Activists, lawmakers and White House officials are bracing for the Supreme Court in the coming weeks to allow the Trump administration to end the program that protects immigrants who came to the country illegally as children, known as Dreamers.
But as reported by Politico, no side expects President Donald Trump will immediately end the program if the ruling goes in his favor. Instead, Trump is expected to slowly wind down the program and use that as leverage to try and strike a broader immigration deal with Democrats this summer, according to six people familiar with the situation. But Democrats, already suspicious of any deals with Trump, want to wait to see if their party wins back the White House and Senate in November.
Already, Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has floated including DACA as part of a broader immigration package after the Supreme Court ruling, according to two of the people familiar with the conversations. And some Senate offices, both Republicans and Democrats, have started talking about what they could ask for in exchange for legal status for Dreamers, according to those familiar with the conversations. In addition, finding any congressional solution on DACA will be nearly impossible for a divided Congress in an election year.
Kushner has been talking to lawmakers for months about a 600-page bill that would grant permanent status to more high-skilled, well-educated immigrants, while reducing the number of immigrants who enter the U.S. based on family ties. The bill, which has not won much support, even from Republicans, didn’t originally include DACA but Kushner has suggested to Senate offices that it could be added. However, according to Politico, a senior administration official disputes that Kushner told senators that DACA would be part of a larger immigration package, saying the president is considering various options as he waits for the Supreme Court decision.
Still, several Trump aides are pushing the president to offer Democrats a deal, according to Politico. If they refuse, the aides believe they can put the onus on Democrats for being unwilling to come to the table. They think the move could help Trump appeal to Hispanics in the election, perhaps slicing into the advantage Democrats have with the group. It’s an attempt to replicate an approach previously used by former George W. Bush aide Karl Rove, who is advising Trump’s campaign. Bush — who aggressively courted Hispanics by breaking into Spanish, visiting minority neighborhoods and touting his “compassionate conservative” philosophy — won 35 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2000 and 43 percent in 2004, the highest for a Republican nominee since exit polling began in 1972.
The pending Supreme Court case is the end result of Trump’s attempt in 2017 to shut down the DACA program, which he argues President Barack Obama illegally created in 2012. Trump was taken to court over the issue and the Supreme Court, sometime in the next few weeks, will decide whether Trump has the authority to undo DACA. About 650,000 immigrants are DACA recipients, according to federal data from December. The number has dipped with some failing to renew or securing legal protections in other ways.
Biden, who was vice president when DACA was created, has vowed to reinstate the program and allow Dreamers to receive federal student aid, calling Trump’s decision to end the program “cruel and counterproductive.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week that she would not be willing to accept certain immigration policies just to strike a DACA deal with Trump, "Our advocates for comprehensive immigration reform do not want us yielding on any of those points. We should have comprehensive immigration reform. We will move in that direction," she said.
For the full article, please visit Politico.
