President Donald Trump endorsed Republican Senator Chuck Grassley’s recent immigration proposal before the U.S. Senate as deliberations are under way before the March 5 expiration for the DACA program.
Trump ended the Obama-era protections for illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children in September giving lawmakers six months to come up with a legislative solution. The president has vowed that any bill codifying Obama-era protections for illegal immigrants into law must be accompanied by funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and that it must end both chain migration and the diversity visa lottery program.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will allow days of open immigration debate on the floor, telling lawmakers it is up to them to come up with a legislative solution hat can garner 60 votes.
“The Grassley bill accomplishes the four pillars of the White House Framework: a lasting solution on DACA, ending chain migration, cancelling the visa lottery, and securing the border through building the wall and closing legal loopholes,” Trump said in a Tuesday morning statement ahead of debate.
Grassley’s bill closely tracks with the White House’s previous legislative proposal, including $25 billion for border wall funding — in return for a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, along with an end to chain migration, and a reformed diversity visa lottery program.
Trump is reportedly threatening to veto any bill which does not fulfill his immigration demands as the debate continues. The president said Wednesday that an immigration bill from Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte and Mike McCaul “also enshrines our four pillars.”