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Trump: Republicans should 'stop wasting their time on immigration' Trump: Republicans should 'stop wasting their time on immigration'
(about 3 hours later)
Republicans should “stop wasting their time on immigration”, Donald Trump tweeted on Friday, as House GOP leadership continued to work on a subject that has riven their party. A Republican effort to reform the US immigration system was once again on the brink of failure on Friday, as the Trump administration faced extraordinary backlash for its crackdown on migrants at the southern border that resulted in more than 2,300 children being separated from their parents.
Republican leaders have twice been forced to postpone final voting on a moderate immigration bill, first until Friday and then to next week, as negotiators make a last-ditch push for support. Donald Trump waded into the roiling debate, instructing Republicans to “stop wasting their time on immigration”, an issue that has split the party for more than a decade.
They are trying to persuade a conservative bloc to approve bill that includes $25bn for Trump’s border wall – a campaign promise which he has insisted Mexico will pay for – and a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children, known as Dreamers. He also courted controversy by claiming Democrats were telling “phony stories of sadness and grief” for electoral gain.
A hardline bill, without provision for Dreamers, failed on Thursday. GOP leaders in Congress were twice forced to postpone an immigration bill, presented as a compromise between moderate and conservative members of the party, as negotiators made an 11th-hour push for consensus. The vote was first delayed to Friday and then to next week.
The party should stop working on immigration reform, the president wrote on Friday morning, “until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November. Dem[ocrat]s are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!” Republicans should “stop wasting their time on Immigration”, the president tweeted, “until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November. Dem[ocrat]s are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!”
Most forecasters in fact predict a possible Blue Wave in the November midterm elections, meaning a sweep of Democratic wins to take back the House and possibly the Senate. Most forecasters in fact predict a possible “blue wave” in the November midterm elections, meaning a sweep of Democratic wins to take back the House and possibly the Senate.
The House Republican immigration effort is imperiled by stubborn differences between conservative and moderate factions – and by the president’s running commentary about a bill he only ever half-heartedly supported and then suggested would never become law. Delicate negotiations over the Republican immigration bill are playing out against a backdrop of extraordinary international outrage over Trump’s “zero-tolerance” enforcement policy, which was captured by dramatic scenes of children in cages and young migrants crying for their parents.
Trump also initiated and then partially withdrew a “zero tolerance” policy on people attempting to enter the US illegally which resulted in the separation of more than 2,300 children from their parents. The fate of those children remains unclear. Trump partially reversed the policy this week under pressure from the pope, the British prime minister, the United Nations, every living first lady including his wife and prominent Republican leaders. The fate of the 2,300 children who were separated from their parents remains unclear. Some experts are concerned that separations may continue, even though Trump declared when signing his executive order that “we are going to keep the families together”.
Controversy over conditions at the southern border and Trump administration policy continues. Some legal experts have expressed concern that separations may continue despite Trump’s executive order saying that they will stop.
The Department of Defense is ready to make space available on military bases for as many as 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children, a spokesman told the Associated Press.The Department of Defense is ready to make space available on military bases for as many as 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children, a spokesman told the Associated Press.
A Pentagon memo to members of Congress, obtained by the AP, said it had been asked to have the facilities available as early as July, through the end of the year. It said Department of Health and Human Services personnel or contractors “will provide all care for the children”, including supervision, meals, clothing, medical services, transportation and other daily needs. Game over. [Trump's tweet] takes the wind out of the sails in what might have been a fairly productive week
On Friday, Trump also tweeted about a longstanding complaint about procedural rules in the Senate, that legislation does not pass on a simple majority vote. Republicans hold a 51-49 edge in the upper chamber. Republican leaders are trying to unite their fractious party despite Trump’s half-hearted support for the effort.
The president wrote: “Even if we get 100% Republican votes in the Senate, we need 10 Democrat votes to get a much needed Immigration Bill – & the Dems are Obstructionists who won’t give votes for political reasons & because they don’t care about Crime coming from Border! So we need to elect more R’s! “Game over,” the Republican congressman Mark Sanford, a Trump critic, told CNN, saying Trump’s tweet “takes the wind out of the sails in what might have been a fairly productive week of looking for a compromise”.
“Elect more Republicans in November and we will pass the finest, fairest and most comprehensive Immigration Bills anywhere in the world. Right now we have the dumbest and the worst. Dems are doing nothing but Obstructing. Remember their motto, RESIST! Ours is PRODUCE!” The “compromise” bill sought to address two urgent crises triggered by Trump’s hardline immigration agenda: his cancellation of a program that shielded from deportation hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children, known as Dreamers, and the zero-tolerance policy which led to the family separations.
The bill would include $25bn for Trump’s border wall, a campaign promise. It would also limit legal immigration, provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and end family separations.
After a two-hour closed-door meeting on Thursday evening, negotiators told reporters they were exploring modifications to the bill to appease conservatives. One element would require employers to use E-verify, a federal database that determines the legal status of workers. The other provision deals with visas for agricultural workers.
On Thursday, the House defeated a more hardline immigration plan that would have dramatically restricted legal immigration without guaranteeing a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. The vote was closer than many Republicans expected, leaving some conservatives to wonder if the focus had been on the wrong measure.
“There’s been a full court press the past 48 hours on the compromise bill,” Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox. “Perhaps if we had done that on the first bill we would have gotten to that sweet spot of 218 votes. But you know, history is over with that bill.”
The “compromise” measure was crafted without input from Democrats, a point the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, stressed to reporters.
“It may be a compromise with the devil but it’s not a compromise with the Democrats,” she said, as the speaker, Paul Ryan, attempted to blame the opposition party for a failure to negotiate.
Trump’s morning tweet was the latest wrinkle in a weeks-long process that began with a rebellion by a group of moderate Republicans who launched a petition drive to force votes on legislation that would protect Dreamers. The bill was not originally conceived to address family separations.
Senate Republicans have moved forward with a different approach, hoping to pass a narrowly crafted standalone measure that would allow families to stay together in detention while increasing the number of federal immigration judges.
On Friday, Trump also tweeted about a longstanding complaint concerning procedural rules in the Senate, that legislation does not pass on a simple majority vote.
“Elect more Republicans in November,” he added, “and we will pass the finest, fairest and most comprehensive Immigration Bills anywhere in the world. Right now we have the dumbest and the worst. Dems are doing nothing but Obstructing. Remember their motto, RESIST! Ours is PRODUCE!”
He also wrote that he would “speak to Mexico”, which he said had “very strong Immigration Laws”, and said: “We cannot allow our Country to be overrun by illegal immigrants as the Democrats tell their phony stories of sadness and grief, hoping it will help them in the elections.”
US immigrationUS immigration
US politicsUS politics
US CongressUS Congress
House of RepresentativesHouse of Representatives
US SenateUS Senate
Donald TrumpDonald Trump
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