President Trump will not consider a bipartisan immigration proposal struck by Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin because it falls far short of the requirements Trump has laid out for any deal that helps Dreamers, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday.
“I’d like to leave no doubt about where the White House stands on the Flake, Graham and Durbin agreement on immigration reform. In the bipartisan meeting here at the White House two weeks ago, we outlined a path forward on four issues: serious border security, an end to chain migration, the cancellation of the outdated and unsafe visa lottery, and a permanent solution to DACA,” Sanders told reporters, referring to the soon-to-be expired Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“Unfortunately, the Flake-Graham-Durbin agreement does not meet these benchmarks,” Sanders said. “In fact, it would not secure our border, encourage more illegal immigration, increase chain migration and retain the visa lottery system.”
“In short, it’s totally unacceptable to the president, and should be declared dead on arrival,” she added.
The White House has said the deal proposed primarily by Graham and Durbin would have provided too little funding for the southwest border wall and would have made few changes to family migration policies. A meeting earlier this month in which Durbin and other lawmakers presented their deal turned heated and sparked a controversy after the Illinois Democrat claimed Trump used profanity to describe African countries during the discussion.
Although Trump and other meeting attendees have denied the president made such comments, the fight quickly eclipsed the substance of talks to legislate DACA protections for young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
Trump continued immigration talks with Republican senators on Monday as Congress voted to restore government funding through Feb. 8. Graham, R-S.C., and Flake, R-Ariz., were not among the GOP lawmakers who participated.
Sanders said Trump would continue facilitating talks with members of both parties as Congress works to strike a deal on DACA legislation that shields eligible undocumented immigrants from deportation once the program shutters in early March on Trump’s orders.
