GOP senators 'underwhelmed' with Kushner's legal immigration plan, sources say
Zumba for illegal aliens!?!?!?
GOP senators 'underwhelmed' with Kushner's legal immigration plan, sources say
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By Jim Acosta, CNN
Updated 8:47 AM ET, Wed May 15, 2019
Source: CNN
Does Kushner's immigration plan stand a chance? 04:21
Washington (CNN)Participants at a meeting between Republican senators and White House senior advisers Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller found the President's advisers' proposal to revamp the US legal immigration system to be lacking in substance, according to a senior GOP official familiar with the presentation.
"I think folks in the room were underwhelmed" with the "whole plan" presented by Kushner and Miller, the official told CNN.
A senior administration official pushed back on the criticism of the White House's presentation at the Tuesday GOP Senate briefing in which Kushner and Miller presented ideas under consideration by the White House to reform the nation's legal immigration system.
"The characterization that Kushner didn't know the subject matter is wrong on many accounts," the official said.
The meeting was the product of weeks of meetings with lawmakers and stakeholders in the immigration debate, and President Donald Trump is expected to unveil the details of the White House immigration plan as early as Thursday, a source familiar with the plan said.
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Kushner's immigration plan has skeptics lining up on both sides
The senior administration official said Kushner, along with Miller and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett delivered separate portions of the briefing to represent different viewpoints on the subject. Kushner approached the immigration issue from the "left," Miller from the "right," while Hassett offered analysis that would appeal to the business community, the official added.
"We did it that way so the right wing agreed with the Miller piece," the official said. "The group did it together so there would be a whole of government approach."
Trump is expected to unveil the details of the White House immigration plan on Thursday, a source familiar with the plan said.
A representative of one organization who met with Kushner and former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen about the White House proposal said both officials made puzzling comments when asked about the administration's plans for dealing with the surge of migrants at the border, a key sticking point in the immigration debate.
According to the representative, Nielsen had said the administration was considering the expansion of holding facilities for migrants to make room for activities aimed at helping migrants feel more at home while in detention.
The representative said Nielsen raised the idea of DHS officials arranging "Zumba" fitness classes for migrants while they're being held by immigration authorities.
"It was like 'let them eat cake,'" the representative said of the prospect of migrants taking "Zumba" exercise classes.
A DHS official told CNN some family centers run by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement already offer the fitness program to migrants in detention, so this would be an expansion of those opportunities.
During the meeting with Kushner, the representative said the President's son-in-law sounded optimistic about the prospect of Trump's border wall becoming a reality.
"We solved the butterfly thing," the representative quoted Kushner as saying.
Kushner was referring to the administration's plan to build a portion of the wall on land currently occupied by the National Butterfly Center, a nature conservatory in Texas, the representative said.
Some issues, such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, were not discussed at the meeting by design, the official added, to avoid discussion on topics that remain divisive.
One immigrant advocate who spoke with Kushner said he sounded open to the idea of providing aid to Central American countries where many of the migrants are fleeing their communities. But Kushner wanted to know whether the idea would be politically viable.
"Do you think that would poll well?" Kushner asked, according to the immigrant advocate.
The President has pushed for a "merit based" immigration system, which would prioritize high-skilled workers, and an end to chain migration.
He tasked Kushner and Nielsen to lead negotiations on border security funding. The first sessions of White House meetings with immigration groups and business groups began in January amid the government shutdown -— when Trump and lawmakers could not agree on new border wall funding. But Nielsen left her role as the head of Homeland Security in April, nudged out by border hardliners who felt she wasn't tough enough on stemming the flow of migrants to the border.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/15/politics/kushner-immigration-plan-gop-senators-meeting/index.html
