Signaling his support for a bipartisan legislation to fix U.S. immigration, President Donald Trump said for the first time that he would be ready to “take the heat” from his political base but at the same time made clear that he wants a wall along the Mexican border.
The president’s remarks – made in an unusually open-to-the-media- meeting – come during the Congressional election year, indicating that the GOP might work with Democrats on the key issue.
The immigration debate has put a lot of political capital at stake after a string actions the Trump Administration has take including the future of DACA beneficiaries.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is expected to unveil a bill in the next few day, which Trump said the GOP will negotiate with Democrats.
Thanks to all of the Republican and Democratic lawmakers for today’s very productive meeting on immigration reform. There was strong agreement to negotiate a bill that deals with border security, chain migration, lottery and DACA. https://t.co/SdqAQ3aL3z pic.twitter.com/8DYHZHspAy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018
“If it gets passed, it will go to the Senate and we can negotiate and we’ll see how it turns out. But I feel having the Democrats in with us is absolutely vital because it should be a bipartisan bill. It should be a bill of love. Truly, it should be a bill of love, and we can do that,” Trump said at the White House meeting with Congressional leaders.
“But,” Trump added, “it also has to be a bill where we’re able to secure our border.
“Drugs are pouring into our country at a record pace and a lot of people are coming in that we can’t have. We’ve greatly stiffened, as you know, and fewer people are trying to come in. But we have tremendous numbers of people and drugs pouring into our country.
“So, in order to secure it, we need a wall. We need closing enforcement — we have to close enforcement loopholes. Give immigration officers — and these are tremendous people, the border security agents, the ICE agents — we have to give them the equipment they need, we have to close loopholes, and this really does include a very strong amount of different things for border security.”
The discussion also touched on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that has allowed around 800,000 children, who were brought to the United States as kids – to stay in the country.
Trump voiced his openness to negotiations and compromise.
“I think my positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with.
“If they come to me with things that I’m not in love with, I’m going to do it, because I respect them.”
Political commentators welcomed the idea of public discussion on the issues but also sounded skeptical on the odds of the two parties’s reaching a compromise on the high-stakes immigration issues.
