Lawmakers who met with President Donald Trump to continue bipartisan negotiations for a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) replacement Tuesday afternoon expressed some optimism for striking a deal before the March deadline, yet key disagreements remain.
Republican Whip Sen. John Cornyn said afterward that the discussion was “one of the most extraordinary meetings that I’ve participated in.”
For the roughly 45 minutes the press was allowed in the room, Trump offered a broad range of potential positions on DACA, potentially pleasing or upsetting everyone no matter what side they take on the immigration program. His answers waffled between calling for the passage of a clean DACA replacement and, alternatively, endorsing additional border security measures alongside the program, as well as expressing support for the notion of a much more ambitious immigration reform effort.
He did tell the gathered media and lawmakers present, “When this group comes back, hopefully with an agreement…. I am signing it. I will be signing it. I’m not going to say ‘oh gee I want this or I want that.’ I will be signing it.”
But if Trump’s position on what exactly he would be signing was unclear, Republican leaders weren’t admitting it.
“The president’s position is very clear,” Cornyn told reporters. “He said whatever we can agree to, he will sign — within those four parameters.”
What the four parameters, which include border security, DACA, the visa lottery, and chain migration, could mean in practice is anyone’s guess at this point.
Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford noted the issue has been debated and addressed in Congress before. “This is not new territory,” he said. He expressed hope an agreement could be reached before early March, when the Obama-era program protecting undocumented immigrants who arrived to the country as children — established via a policy memorandum from the Department of Homeland Security — is set to expire Trump rescinded the policy in September.
“I thought the meeting was exceptionally helpful,” Lankford said.
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who was among the 25 members of Congress to attend the White House discussion Tuesday, agreed progress was made.
“The president expressed more flexibility than some expected,” he told MSNBC.
Trump notably exhibited a willingness to negotiate on his signature issue: The constructions of a proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico. He conceded a 2,000-mile wall across the entire southern border may not be necessary, because geographic barriers like rivers and mountains exist in some areas. Trump’s flexibility throughout the conversation angered some conservative Republicans in Congress who expect a more hardline stance on immigration issues from the president.
Democrats have indicated that funding construction of Trump’s proposed border wall represents a red line they won’t quickly cross, but the party has been open to supporting different border security measures in the past.
Timing for a bill remains unclear, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reiterated his stance Tuesday afternoon that a DACA fix should not be tied to the January 19 government funding package. Democrats disagree, arguing a replacement should be advanced as soon as possible in a must-pass spending bill.
Despite the unique bipartisan White House meeting, Republicans are skeptical the parties can find a resolution to the controversial debate in just ten days.
“The deadline for us is the first week of March. That’s the deadline,” Lankford said. “We have got to have it resolved by then.”
