Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a key senator in the talks to find an immigration deal, came out against President Trump’s proposal for a grand bargain, in large part because it would curb legal immigration.
“Dreamers should not be held hostage to President Trump’s crusade to tear families apart and waste billions of American tax dollars on an ineffective wall,” Durbin said in a statement.
Trump’s plan would put 1.8 million immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children on a decade-long path to citizenship. But that comes at a high price for Democrats, as he also wants $25 billion for a border wall and other security measures.
Trump also wants to end chain migration, the process by which immigrants can get their extended family members to America, and also wants to end the diversity visa lottery.
Durbin said that’s all too much to ask.
“The White House claims to be compromising because the President now agrees with the overwhelming majority of Americans that Dreamers should have a pathway to citizenship,” he said. “But his plan would put the administration’s entire hardline immigration agenda — including massive cuts to legal immigration — on the backs of these young people.”
Durbin also seemed to dismiss Trump’s plan by saying senators from both parties are still working on their own proposal. Many progressive groups also came out against Trump’s plan Thursday night.
However, Republicans have stressed that Congress needs to find a solution that Trump can also support, not just one that can survive a close Senate vote.
