Politics

Signs Are Looking Good For Conservatives Worried About Amnesty

REUTERS/Stephen Lam

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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Republican senators do not plan to include amnesty for several hundred thousand illegal immigrants in a December spending bill, according to a Friday report in The Wall Street Journal.

President Donald Trump announced in September the rollback of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects around 800,000 illegal immigrants, and asked Congress to work on giving them legal status.

“President Trump rightfully put an end to rumors that a DACA amnesty could be part of a year-end spending bill,” R.J. Hauman, government relations director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), told The Daily Caller. “Fundamental changes to U.S. immigration laws must be debated openly in front of the American people – not drafted behind closed doors and attached to must-pass legislation.”

Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-amnesty America’s Voice, told the Journal, “Delay means defeat and we are not going to stand for it.”

The White House priorities for an immigration deal include funding for a border wall and implementation of a merit-based immigration system.

Trump stood firm in an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Thursday that he would not sign an amnesty deal that doesn’t sharply reduce legal immigration.

“I don’t think any Republican would vote for anything having to do with leaving chain migration. Chain migration is a disaster for this country and it’s horrible,” Trump said about a process that allows immigrants to sponsor many family members to migrate to the U.S. A proposal to end chain migration by two Republican senators was estimated to halve legal immigration from one million annually after ten years.

“It is critical that prior to even the consideration of a DACA amnesty, Congress must first pass reforms outlined in the Trump administration’s immigration principles – with an end to chain migration being paramount,” FAIR’s Hauman noted.