White House officials took aim in a Thursday background briefing call at South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham for opposing the administration’s immigration proposal framework.
Graham himself blasted the Department of Homeland Security Thursday morning for releasing a statement opposing a recently revealed bipartisan Senate immigration proposal. The statement said the bill would be “the end of immigration enforcement in America and only serve to draw millions more illegal aliens with no way to remove them.”
The Republican senator angrily reacted to the bill saying “the DHS press release is over the top. It’s poisonous. I think its ridiculous and I’ve long since stopped paying attention to them.” He added that it was if the statement was written by a “political hack.”
An administration official struck at Graham in response telling reporters to let him know the statement was written by people “who care deeply about the rule of law,” with another official saying, “I’m not aware when Lindsey Graham became the chairman of the Democratic conference.”
The Senate is in the midst of an ongoing debate over the future of DACA. The Trump administration has insisted any deal to codify DACA into law must be accompanied by funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and that it must end both chain migration, end the diversity visa lottery program and close loopholes.
President Donald Trump also came out against the Schumer-Rounds-Collins bill reiterating the DHS statement.
The Schumer-Rounds-Collins immigration bill would be a total catastrophe. @DHSgov says it would be “the end of immigration enforcement in America.” It creates a giant amnesty (including for dangerous criminals), doesn’t build the wall, expands chain migration, keeps the visa…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2018
…lottery, continues deadly catch-and-release, and bars enforcement even for FUTURE illegal immigrants. Voting for this amendment would be a vote AGAINST law enforcement, and a vote FOR open borders. If Dems are actually serious about DACA, they should support the Grassley bill!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2018
The White House so far has only endorsed Senator Chuck Grassley’s immigration proposal. “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.
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.