Every political junkie in the country was trying to decode Pres. Trump's cryptic Tweet this morning on chain migration.
CHAIN MIGRATION cannot be allowed to be part of any legislation on Immigration!
-- Pres. Trump
Given the President's endorsement of Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue's RAISE Act (which would end chain migration), we believe Trump's Tweet can only mean one thing -- any immigration bill passed by Congress should end chain migration.
In his Tweet response to Trump, Roy added another condition with a link to his recent op-ed published by The Hill...
True. Any immigration legislation must end Chain Migration...and mandate E-Verify.
-- NumbersUSA President Roy Beck
Trump's Tweet came after news broke on Wednesday night that he had struck a deal with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on DACA. The reports said that Trump had agreed to pair a DACA amnesty with border security, triggering a firestorm of anger and frustration from his base. (Read our statement in response to the reports here.) After all, Trump's anti-amnesty pledge was repeated on the campaign trail almost as often as his calls for a "wall" along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The once Trump-friendly Brietbart.com dubbed Trump as "Amnesty Don" followed by reports of his supporters burning "Make America Great Again" hats after hearing news of the alleged deal.
The White House insisted that there was no deal, but acknowledged that Trump, Pelosi, and Schumer did discuss DACA and border security.
After his Tweet this morning, reporters pressed White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to explain what exactly the Tweet meant. Sanders said that the White House would be announcing its immigration principles in 7-10 days and mentioned the President's support for the RAISE Act.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS
The only ones who know if anything was agreed to regarding a DACA amnesty during the meeting are the people who were in the room on Wednesday night, and each side is fighting for leverage over the other on the issue. Whether Trump agreed to a DACA amnesty-border security trade is unknown, but it's become clear over the last 24 hours that if a deal was made, he's backed off.
Regardless, the next few weeks will be telling. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy have assembled an immigration working group along with Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte to draft possible legislation.
Meanwhile, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows is saying that the White House has reached out to his caucus to also propose legislation.
The only thing we know for sure is that the chances for major action on immigration legislation in Congress this fall have increased greatly. No one knows what that legislation might look like, but if Trump gets his way according to his Tweet and today's press briefing, the RAISE Act could be part of it.
CHRIS CHMIELENSKI is the Director, Content & Activism
