Trump plan offers citizenship path to 1.8M immigrants

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump proposed an immigration plan Thursday that provides a path to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants and seeks a $25 billion trust fund for a border wall system and restrictions on legal immigration.

But the proposal met immediate resistance from Democrats who oppose cuts to legal immigration and from some conservative Republicans who oppose citizenship offers to undocumented immigrants.

A senior administration official outlined the parameters of the plan late Thursday to reporters. The full proposal is expected to be officially sent to the Senate on Monday.

The president’s plan “represents a compromise that members of both parties can support,” the administration official said. The official said the offer was designed to garner the 60 votes needed to move legislation through the Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 majority.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Thursday for the bipartisan group of senators who provided a conclusion to the government shutdown to help carry a bill through the Senate that provides protections for the 800,000 immigrants who were shielded under the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program.

Schumer warned that broadening the bill to address other concerns could expose ideological differences that could doom passage of a narrow DACA bill.

Trump’s plan

The president’s plan calls for restricting legal immigration, limiting citizens to seeking visas for only spouses and minor children and ending legal channels for parents and siblings. It also calls for an end to the diversity visa program.

Frank Sharry with the pro-immigration organization America’s Voice said the White House plan would slash legal immigration by 50 percent and would take “a wrecking ball to the Statue of Liberty.”

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., agreed, saying: “What this plan compromises is our nation’s reputation as a melting pot and refuge for those who are seeking a better life.”

NumbersUSA, an organization that seeks reduced legal immigration, tweeted that Trump needs to keep his promise and end “chain migration” and the visa lottery.

The Trump plan would create a $25 billion trust fund to build a wall system along the U.S.-Mexico border, and fund technology and other improvements on the northern border. Trump also wants more border agents and immigration judges.

Schumer had offered funds to build a border wall during negotiations to end the government shutdown last week, but he withdrew that offer after the administration failed to deliver on DACA demands.

As part of the compromise to end the shutdown, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., vowed to bring a DACA bill to the floor of the Senate, with an amendment process that offers lawmakers in both parties an opportunity to address their concerns.

Democrats, including Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., have threatened to vote against a government funding bill on Feb. 8 if concerns over DACA are not addressed.

Obama-era program

Under the Obama-era DACA program, immigrants who were brought into this country illegally were allowed to work, go to college and serve in the military.

Most DACA enrollees are in Southwestern states and urban centers. There were 26,726 immigrants in the program in Nevada in 2017, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Trump ended the program last fall but gave Congress until March to pass legislation providing DACA protections.

This week Trump called unacceptable a bipartisan bill crafted by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that would have provided a path to citizenship for DACA recipients but only several billion dollars for wall construction.

To entice Democrats in the Senate, Trump is offering a path to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants over a 10- to 12-year period, more than twice the number of those in enrolled in the DACA program last year.

But that proposal is likely to face stiff resistance from conservatives who have labeled citizenship “amnesty.”

And leaders of the GOP House, where previous immigration reform bills have died, said they were not bound by the Senate compromise to address DACA.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., told Politico this week that House Republicans would “not pass a bill that has amnesty.”

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.