Trump, White House to Unveil DACA, Immigration Plan

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said Wednesday he's open to a pathway to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of young people who were brought to the country as children and are now here illegally.Trump told reporters, "We're going to morph into it. It's going to happen, at some point in the future, over a period of 10 to 12 years."Trump's comments came as the White House said it would be releasing a legislative framework on immigration Monday that would, in part, resolve the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.Trump announced he was ending DACA last year, but has given Congress until March to come up with a legislative fix. He said he is confident that he can reach a deal on the issues and the immigrants known as "Dreamers" shouldn't be worried.The 12-year pathway to citizenship echoes a timeline already proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. The men are among a bipartisan group of lawmakers behind an immigration and border security package that was previously panned by the White House. Earlier this week, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the legislation brought forth by Graham, Durbin and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., is "unacceptable" to Trump because it doesn’t meet White House requirements on border security.The framework to be unveiled Monday “represents a compromise that members of both parties can support,” Sanders said, as the White House appeared to try to take control of the process amid criticism that the president has taken too much of a back seat during the negotiations and sent mixed signals that have repeatedly upended near-deals.Sanders wouldn't say Wednesday whether the upcoming White House framework will include a pathway to citizenship for young Dreamers, but she said it will include specifics on border security, calls to cancel the visa lottery and seeks to prevent immigrants from sponsoring family members.The White House will encourage the Senate to bring the proposal to a vote. "The president wants to lead on this issue,” Sanders said.The Senate also is working on a plan for immigration legislation as part of a promise by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to ensure Democratic votes to end the government shutdown. Leaders concede that the effort won't be easy and are already casting blame should the effort falter. Around three dozen senators, evenly divided among Republicans and Democrats, planned to meet late Wednesday.Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 GOP leader, said he hoped it would "get people thinking about a framework that might actually work."The Associated Press  Continue reading...

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