Thread: Trump Aides Divided Over Policy Shielding 'Dreamer' Immigrants: Sources

Trump aides divided over policy shielding 'dreamer' immigrants: sources






By Julia Edwards Ainsley and Richard Cowan

January 29, 2017



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Divisions have emerged among advisers to President Donald Trump over whether to rescind a signature policy of his predecessor, President Barack Obama, that shields young immigrants from deportation, according to congressional sources and Republicans close to the White House.


Even though Trump campaigned on a promise to roll back Obama's executive orders on immigration, the Republican has so far left intact an order safeguarding 750,000 people who were brought to the United States illegally as children, known as the "dreamers."


The issue has become a flashpoint for White House advisers divided between a more moderate faction such as chief of staff Reince Priebus and immigration hardliners Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, said a former congressional aide who has been involved with immigration issues in Washington.


Priebus has said publicly that Trump will work with Congress to get a "long-term solution" on the issue.


Meanwhile, Miller, said to have mastered the thinking of his former boss and anti-immigration advocate Jeff Sessions, Trump's nominee for U.S. Attorney General, as well as Bannon, former head of right-wing Breitbart News, have pushed Trump to take a harder approach and rescind the protections.


Two officials at the Department of Homeland Security expect Trump to simply stop renewing the authorizations that "dreamers" currently have to work, drive and obtain higher education. Under that plan, the most recently renewed authorizations would expire in two years.


But a senior House Republican aide said it was uncertain whether the administration had scrapped the idea of overturning Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, as the internal debate plays out.


Preserving DACA has also become somewhat of a bartering chip as Trump seeks congressional support for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and other early administration priorities.


The White House is "acutely aware" of the firestorm in the country and within Congress that could swamp the fledgling administration just as it plunges into negotiations over the wall, healthcare, tax reform and infrastructure investments, said the senior House Republican aide.


Another congressional aide described a Senate bill sponsored by Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Lindsey Graham to protect the "dreamers" as the "sugar that would help the medicine of the wall go down."


The bill would likely face challenges winning enough votes to pass. Efforts to attach some tough conservative amendments could lose Democratic Party support and sink the whole effort.
Trump has kept his public comments on DACA vague.


In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Trump said his administration would be coming out with a policy to deal with "dreamers" over the next four weeks.


"They shouldn't be very worried. They are here illegally. They shouldn't be very worried. I do have a big heart. We're going to take care of everybody. We're going to have a very strong border," Trump said in the interview with ABC.


Trump reportedly told Durbin during the inaugural luncheon at the Capitol on Jan. 20 that he did not have to worry about an executive action overturning Obama's order.


But there is scant trust among Democrats that Trump will keep his word. And immigration advocates said DACA recipients live in fear and uncertainty as the message from the White House and Republicans seems to shift by the day.


House Speaker Paul Ryan told a woman protected by DACA, at a townhall hosted by CNN Jan. 12, that there should be a solution for people like her to get "right with the law" and not be separated from their families.


Just two days prior, Sessions, a Senator, told a Senate panel considering his confirmation that it would "certainly be constitutional" to repeal DACA.


Sessions also attempted to force a vote to block DACA in the Senate in 2014.


Miller, Sessions' former staffer, is now Trump's senior adviser for policy at the White House. Miller is known to be a staunch advocate for restricting immigration, even by workers who enter legally on visas.


Both Miller and Bannon, Trump's senior counselor and chief strategist, are seen as outsiders to the Republican establishment and unafraid to upset people like Ryan to stay true to Trump campaign promises.


Priebus, however, came to the White House after chairing the Republican National Committee and has spent years seeking to unify the party and cultivating relationships with career politicians.




https://ca.news.yahoo.com/trump-aide...200655151.html

Yeah, Reince needs to avoid issues he doesn't really understand yet and let the professionals who do carry on. Sessions will be confirmed and sworn in on Tuesday, at least that's the expectation or plan. Sessions, Miller, Bannon and Trump will make this call. No doubt about it.

AND, given the horrible rhetoric from McCain, Graham, Schumer, Pelosi, Feinstein, etc., etc., over the Travel Ban, and the outrageous rhetoric coming out of Mexico about the wall, there is no mileage or goodwill to gain by letting DACA expire rather than just rescinding it. Double-down, rescind it, get it over with and move on to solving other problems.

It wears on Americans to drag it out. Americans needs the jobs, the seats in college, the houses, the apartments, they have our stuff and we want it back. GET THEM ALL OUT NOW.

The protests occurring now are a glimpse of what will take place if/when DACA is stopped. If the Republican Congress wanted to they could do a stand alone border wall bill with no amendments however, Democrats will not sign on to anything without a big amnesty.

If the White House is having every department searched as reported for any dollars given to Mexico for any reason then couldn't they pay for the wall from that without Congressional approvals?

It comes as no surprise to us Judy that establishment types like Reince Priebus, Paul Ryan, others are in a battle with the side for "America First" of Jeff Sessions, Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon.

President Trump is seeing what catering to and coddling foreign citizens gets the United States. It is not good.

Trump reportedly told Durbin during the inaugural luncheon at the Capitol on Jan. 20 that he did not have to worry about an executive action overturning Obama's order.

Somebody is being lied to. Trump told us during the campaign he was going to cancel DACA immediately.

ryan and reince are buddy buddy and both are bad news. Shocked that ryan still has his position with all the mouthing off of "I believe in open borders, people should come and go, take jobs" - he is a menace. Shocking that Trump would allow them to be influential on this issue over his promises.

I don't know, GeorgiaPeach. Probably not, because the funds are appropriated for one thing and Presidents don't have much latitude to change it to fund something else without approval from Congress. There are numerous ways to pay for it. Most of them require Congress. Republicans in Congress have committed to paying for the wall so I think they'll come through with it. But, we could start a GoFundMe account and raise the money to build part of it to get it started, we could get Fox News to help promote it. 63 million Americans voted for Trump, and some of those were some pretty big dollar people, so if the big dollar people put in a lot and the rest of us could put in a little over a period of months and years, we could probably raise a good part of it, at least enough to get it started without waiting for Congress.

It could be part of the infrastructure bill, too. I think just tell Congress to do their jobs and fund the wall. A nice beautiful lovely wall, no ugly thing, a pretty wall with nice landscaping. Everyone has to remember, we didn't start this, Mexico started it, so they will pay in many ways including financially.

Mexico's true character is coming out with the statements by Vincente Fox about the "fvcking wall", a Senator of Mexico threatening us with terrorism, another Mexico official threatening to flood US with deadly narcotics. These people are not our "friends". They are corrupt, criminal awful people just like Trump said they were when he made his announcement speech.

Thank you Judy.

If they are looking through every department for monies that we give to Mexico, the plan may be to cut amounts here and there that would amount to cost of the wall even if not set aside for the wall.

Many Americans would like to contribute to a beautiful wall. Contribute and get a message or name added to the wall.

Yeah, Trump wants to know the foreign aid numbers so he can cut them, and put that money into the wall budget. It's a fairly small figure if just "foreign aid". About $420 million a year (economic and military). They also receive money through other agencies so he's trying to get that total figure.

Here's a link for the foreign aid for FY 2013:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid

Yes, I think many Americans, all those who voted for Trump and many others who didn't but who would still like a beautiful wall. Most of that fencing we see in the pictures is just hideous.

The best way to get Mexico is end the War on Drugs, and legalize our own domestic (no imports, no exports) recreational drug trade. 70% of that is marijuana. 30% hard stuff, cocaine, heroine, meth, etc. It's a $240 billion a year business just through the Southern Border. Probably $60 billion with ports and other ways of bringing it in on planes and so forth. Legalize, regulate, education, tax under the FairTax, and rehabilitate. Use the taxes only drug users pay to fund better education, pre-purchase viewing of films and reading pamphlets at the stores before you get a card to buy drugs, warning labels on all packages sold, and for the addiction, provide free rehab on demand for anyone who wants or needs it. Regulate it from top to bottom, for quality and quantity, age, etc., and have all the businesses run by licensed US Citizens Only.

We're never going to stop the drug trade otherwise. Human attraction to this is much older than the US and Mexico and drug cartels, been going on since the beginning. The mistake has been making it illegal and letting it run wild without regulation, the same it would be for most any business.