Senior Democrats say agreement reached with Trump to protect young immigrants
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Version 0 of 10. Senior Democrats stunned Washington on Wednesday by claiming that they had agreed with Donald Trump to a plan to protect immigrants brought illegally to the US as children. Senator minority leader Chuck Schumer and House counterpart Nancy Pelosi, who dined with the president at the White House, said they had reached an agreement to quickly enshrine into law protections for the nearly 800,000 immigrants who benefited from Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme. A person briefed on the meeting said Trump agreed with the Democrats to pair the bipartisan Dream Act, which provides a path to permanent residency for undocumented immigrants brought to the US illegally as children, with some form of border security – excluding Trump’s promised border wall. It was not immediately clear what specific border measures would be included. Immediately after the announcement from Pelosi and Schumer, the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, tweeted that there had “certainly not” been an agreement excluding the wall. While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to. In response, Schumer’s spokesman said that Trump said he would “continue pushing the wall, just not as part of this agreement”. The President made clear he would continue pushing the wall, just not as part of this agreement. https://t.co/KD1SdLAnIF It was the second time in two weeks that Trump has bypassed Republican leaders to deal with Schumer and Pelosi. Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement: “We had a very productive meeting at the White House with the President. The discussion focused on Daca. We agreed to enshrine the protections of Daca into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides. “We also urged the president to make permanent the cost-sharing reduction payments, and those discussions will continue.” Earlier this month, Trump left the fate of nearly 800,000 young, undocumented immigrants, known as Dreamers, hanging in the balance with a decision to terminate Daca. The 2012 Obama-era programme had granted them temporary status, enabling them to come out of the shadows to study or work without fear of deportation.Faced with swift and overwhelming backlash, Trump suggested the same day he might “revisit” the issue if Congress failed to resolve the status of Dreamers through legislation.In a rare statement, Obama dubbed Trump’s decision as lacking in “basic decency”. “A shadow has been cast over some of our best and brightest young people once again,” the former president wrote, without specifically mentioning Trump by name. It was Trump who extended the invitation to Schumer and Pelosi, according to a source familiar with the meeting, to follow up on their discussion last week of the numerous fiscal deadlines facing Congress. After the dinner, a White House official was more non-committal than the Democrats, saying: “President Donald Trump had a constructive working dinner with Senate and House minority leaders, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, as well as administration officials to discuss policy and legislative priorities. These topics included tax reform, border security, Daca, infrastructure and trade. “This is a positive step toward the president’s strong commitment to bipartisan solutions for the issues most important to all Americans. The administration looks forward to continuing these conversations with leadership on both sides of the aisle.” Trump’s sudden desire to work across the aisle has rattled Republicans and unnerved some on the left, who fear that Democrats risk their reputations and principles by working with such an inflammatory president. Earlier on Wednesday, Sarah Sanders was asked about the absence of Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and House speaker Paul Ryan from the dinner hosted by Trump. “I think it’s pretty disingenuous for people to say he’s only meeting with Democrats,” she said. “The president is the leader of the Republican party and was elected by Republicans. He beat out 16 other candidates to take that mantle on, and certainly, I think, is one of the strongest voices. And so the idea that the Republican party ideas are not represented in that room is just ridiculous.” The American people elected Trump because they were tired of business as usual, Sanders added. “They wanted somebody who would break up the status quo, that would bring people from both sides of the table together to have conversations. This president has done more for bipartisanship in the last eight days than Obama did in eight years.” Like Trump, Schumer is from New York, prompting some commentators to suggest that they have a personal chemistry that the president lacks with McConnell or Ryan. Speaking before Wednesday night’s deal, Sidney Blumenthal, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton, said: “Chuck Schumer understands Trump better than anyone in the Senate. McConnell doesn’t understand Trump. Both Schumer and Trump are outer borough boys from New York: they’re very different but speak the same language.” Blumenthal added: “Trump doesn’t despise Schumer and Pelosi but he does hate McConnell and Ryan. He feels they have humiliated him. Trump’s central motive is revenge for perceived humiliation, which is a constant for him.” Trump dined with the Democratic leaders in the Blue Room of the White House, where they were served Chinese food and chocolate pie, according to a source. The first 30 minutes of the meeting focused on trade issues pertaining to China. Trump sat at the head of the table, the source said, with Pelosi to his right and Schumer to his left. A total of 11 people attended the dinner, including several cabinet officials: homeland security secretary John Kelly, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, and budget director Mick Mulvaney. Gary Cohn, the director of the national economic council, and Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, were also at the meal. |