Trump has declared readiness for widespread immigration reform

Photo: facebook / The White House

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday met with lawmakers from both parties in an attempt to find a compromise on the fate of thousands of young illegal immigrants, writes "Voice of America".

Trump and congressional-controlling Republicans sharply disagree with Democrats; while both parties are preparing for the upcoming mid-term elections in November. Trump insists that any immigration agreement include funding for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico and the tightening of immigration restrictions.

"We will build this wall," promised Trump, speaking on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee.

Democrats seek to protect beneficiaries of the Deferred Action Program for Immigrant Children from being deported (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - DACA), which expires in early March. We are talking about the so-called “Dreamers” - immigrants who arrived in the country when they were minors. It is estimated that there are about 700 of them in the country.

However, under pressure from immigrant organizations, Democrats do not want to give in to Trump on the issue of building a wall, which was one of the central points of his election program. “There were some discussions, but our position is clear, and their position is also roughly clear. We want to delve into this issue and see if there are opportunities for negotiations, ”the White House representative said.

As expected, the leading representatives of the Congress at the meeting on Tuesday will not. However, the list of guests included congressmen from both parties involved in the discussion of immigration issues, including Republican senators John Cornyn and Tom Cotton, as well as Democratic Senator Dick Durbin. The leader of the democratic minority in the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi made it clear that she was not expecting any noticeable progress from this meeting.

“I would have more faith in the success of this meeting if there were people who truly imagined the situation from our side,” she said, adding that she did not criticize Durbin.

Among the "dreamers" are many immigrants from Mexico and Central America who have spent most of their lives in the United States, studied in American schools and are actively involved in public life.

In September, Trump questioned their fate by announcing that he intended to cancel the DACA program, which allowed them to legally live and work in the United States on a temporary basis.

Texas Rep. Henry Quellar, a member of the House of Representatives, who had been invited to the meeting, had previously expressed the hope that a solution could be devised, but he admits that the differences remain.

“The DACA program is very important to us, but the border security too,” he said in an interview with CNN. “However, there are some people, some of my Republican colleagues and the president himself, who believe that the only way to ensure the security of borders is to build a wall.”

Trump, under pressure from conservatives, said that any agreement with Democrats on DACA should provide for the termination of “chain migration”, which could put at risk the parents of “dreamers” who still live in the country illegally, and the visa lottery.

Some Republicans in the House of Representatives want to take advantage of the “visionary” bill to increase funding for the immigration control system. Advocates for the rights of immigrants fear that these funds may be used to harass the relatives of young immigrants.

Arizona State Rep. Martha Maxalli, who planned to attend the meeting, believes that Democrats should be “more open” to Republican demands for border security and DACA.

“These are reasonable requirements,” she noted. “It seems the Democrats are simply stubborn.”

Republican Republican Tom Tillis, a senator from North Carolina, said that the main thing in the meeting was not just the plan proposed by Trump’s legislators, a plan that he could accept or reject. “The essence of the matter is not so much that we offer something, and the president answered“ yes ”or“ no ”, but rather that the administration actively participated in the process,” said Tillis, adding that the president is doing just that. .

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