BORDER/DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration campaign platform thrilled hard-liners who long felt marginalized in the national debate. Now, they fear Mr. Trump will desert them.
Their concerns grew this week after the president met with lawmakers and, as TV cameras rolled, voiced openness to a range of legislative options to legalize young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers…
At the White House meeting Tuesday [1-19-18], the president at times said he would favor simply combining Dreamer protections with border security, a trade that some of his allies see as insufficiently tough. At one point, Mr. Trump expressed support for a ‘clean’ Dreamer bill, meaning legislation that only addresses the fate of these young people, with other immigration issues left for later.
He also volunteered interest in comprehensive immigration legislation, which is understood to include a pathway to citizenship for most of the 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally. And he said lawmakers didn’t have to worry about coming to an agreement only to see him balk, promising he would sign any legislation they produce… The back and forth reflects a tension every president faces: the pressure to deliver what is expected by core supporters against the drive to cut a deal, which inherently involves compromise. Mr. Trump, throughout his life, has promoted himself as a deal maker.”
-Laura Meckler, “Trump’s DACA Overture Worries Immigration Hawks,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 11, 2018 08:29am