Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., expressed skepticism about whether President Trump is actually on board with providing a pathway to citizenship for immigrants eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program as part of an immigration package.
“President can’t be trusted to keep his word or maintain position for more than a couple of hours,” Gutierrez tweeted on Thursday. “Every time hardliners inside and outside White House shift his position, we get farther from a deal to serve the will the American people to give Dreamers a way to live here legally.”
President can’t be trusted to keep his word or maintain position for more than a couple of hours. Every time hardliners inside and outside White House shift his position, we get farther from a deal to serve the will the American people to give Dreamers a way to live here legally. https://t.co/VhrbUfraza
— Luis V. Gutierrez (@RepGutierrez) January 25, 2018
Earlier Thursday it was reported that Trump would get behind a plan to provide citizenship to the 1.8 million immigrants eligible for DACA, not just those who are already DACA recipients.
Trump said Wednesday that he was open to offering citizenship for DACA recipients in 10 to 12 years if other priorities of his, such as funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, are included in an immigration proposal.
Trump has said the administration will request $25 billion for the construction of a border wall.
A member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Gutierrez has long been an outspoken critic of the president’s immigration stance, but over the weekend the congressman said he would support Trump’s wall if Republicans agreed to protect so-called “Dreamers.”
The Trump administration announced last year that DACA, which protects those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, would end, and that it was up to Congress to legislate a new program by March 5, when the program expires.
