Throwing cold water on a bipartisan immigration agreement hatched by a group of six Senators, President Donald Trump on Friday again said that any immigration deal aimed at helping illegal immigrant "Dreamers" must do more to stop people from trying to illegally enter the United States in the future.
"The so-called bipartisan DACA deal presented yesterday to myself and a group of Republican Senators was a big step backwards," the President tweeted early on Friday.
Mr. Trump again made clear that he wants a plan which has substantial resources to build a wall along the Mexican border, ends what is known as chain migration, and gets rid of a visa lottery program.
That last tweet by the President referred to a story that emerged late Thursday, when he used a derogatory term to refer to immigrants from certain countries, which earned him rebukes from many Democrats, but only a handful of Republicans.
As for the effort on DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program started by the Obama Administration, the group of six Senators - three Democrats, three Republicans - saw their work product differently, arguing they were following the President's directions to find common ground on this hot button issue.
"We have been working for four months and have reached an agreement in principle that addresses border security, the diversity visa lottery, chain migration/family reunification, and the Dream Act—the areas outlined by the President," the group said in a statement.
"We are now working to build support for that deal in Congress," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ).
But it was quickly apparent that the details did not pass muster with the President.
Democrats had pressed to have a deal included in a must-pass funding bill next week, as a government spending plan runs out on January 19. But that seems unlikely, as lawmakers are now expected to approve another short-term funding resolution.
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