Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Sunday that President Trump called him this week to assure him there was no deal made with Democrats on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program after his dinner meeting with Democratic leaders.
“He wants to see a deal,” Cotton told “Meet the Press” on Sunday of Trump. “In fact, he called me a couple nights ago to say there’s no deal. He wants to make sure that we protect the interest of American workers. In particular, by ending unlimited chain migration, which is why we have so many unskilled workers coming into the country.”
The Trump administration announced earlier this month the DACA program would end by March, giving Congress six months to come up with a legislative solution to dealing with Dreamers, the name given to those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and are protected from deportation under DACA.
On Wednesday, Trump had dinner with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., where they discussed a permanent fix to DACA.
The Democratic leaders released a statement after the dinner saying the president had agreed to support legislation enshrining into law the legal status of Dreamers, and would not request funding for a border wall be included in the same bill.
Trump and the White House, though, said there was no deal.
Cotton reiterated Sunday no deal had been reached, despite Schumer and Pelosi’s statements to the contrary, and said he’s eager to work with Trump and congressional Democrats to come to a legislative solution.
“We want to put American interests or American workers’ interests first,” Cotton said. “And we’ll do that. But there’s no deal right now, and I’m happy to work for the president and Democrats in Congress to try to reach a deal that helps American workers.”
