Thread: Trump calls bipartisan immigration deal a 'catastrophe'

Trump calls bipartisan immigration deal a 'catastrophe'

By Max Greenwood - 02/15/18 02:50 PM EST

President Trump on Thursday called a bipartisan Senate proposal on immigration a "catastrophe" that would undermine law enforcement and grant amnesty to "dangerous criminals."

The deal, supported by a group of centrist lawmakers, would protect "Dreamers" – young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children – in exchange for roughly $25 billion for border security.

Trump criticized the bill in a series of tweets Thursday afternoon, calling it a "vote against law enforcement."

"The Schumer-Rounds-Collins immigration bill would be a total catastrophe. DHSgov says it would be 'the end of immigration enforcement in America,'" Trump tweeted. "It creates a giant amnesty (including for dangerous criminals), doesn’t build the wall, expands chain migration, keeps the visa 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!"

Trump's tweet threw into further doubt the future of the bipartisan deal, introduced in the Senate late Wednesday.

The lead sponsors of the bill are Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), among other Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier Thursday that Trump would veto the bipartisan Senate deal if it were sent to his desk for signing.

Trump's comments Thursday signal a shift from his past claim in January that he would sign whatever piece of immigration legislation Congress would send to his desk.

"I'm not going to say, 'Oh gee I want this or I want that,' " Trump told lawmakers at the time. "I will be signing it."

The White House has pushed for a much broader plan to overhaul the country's immigration system that would seek to curb legal immigration and provide funding for the construction of Trump's long-promised border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Part of that proposal hinges on curbing family-based immigration and ending the diversity lottery program, which provides visas to certain people from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the U.S.

Trump has insisted that lawmakers pursue a system of merit-based immigration that would grant entry to foreigners with skills deemed beneficial to the U.S.

Democrats, however, have said that the White House's proposal, which is sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), is a nonstarter.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administ...-a-catastrophe

GRIDLOCK!!!

NO DACA, NO DREAMER, NO DEAL, NO AMNESTY!!

HOLD THE LINE!!!

"No deal" is a good deal!

YES, it's not over though They'll go away for their vacation, then come back, and they'll try something again, but I think once all the Republicans get home, listen to their people, and return, there will be even less support than now, so those votes will be fails as well due to the gridlock. Trump stacked this deck really really good. I know people are upset with him for doing this, and I am too, but for some reason I understood what he was trying to do, which was something to help US, not realizing we would rather have NOTHING than have another amnesty to get something.