DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/POLITICS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump on Wednesday [2-14-18] called on lawmakers to oppose a series of bipartisan efforts to address immigration and resolve the fate of the so-called ‘Dreamers,’ demanding fealty to his hard-line approach and increasing the odds of political gridlock as the Senate debates the issue.
Senators in both parties are racing against a self-imposed, end-of-the-week deadline to write legislation that could win broad support by increasing border security while at the same time offering a path to citizenship for immigrants brought to the United States as children.
But in a morning statement, Mr. Trump urged senators to oppose any bill that did not also embrace the ‘four pillars’ of his immigration approach, which includes a rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws that would close the country’s borders to many immigrants trying to come to the United States legally… The president’s decision to weigh in forcefully is likely to undermine the efforts of several bipartisan groups in the Senate and the House by calling into question whether any legislation they come up with might be dead-on-arrival once they make it to the president’s desk… The top Republicans in both the House and Senate praised the president’s statement, describing it as a boost for the approach that many of their more conservative members support.”
-Michael D. Shear and Eileen Sullivan, “Trump Threatens to Veto Immigration Bills that Don’t Meet His Demands,” The New York Times online, Feb. 14, 2018