The Trump administration laid out its list of demands regarding the immigration deal involving the recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He insists on building the wall along Mexico’s border and plans to treat unaccompanied minors like adults.
President Donald Trump also wants to hire 10,000 more Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, over 350 immigration judges, 300 federal prosecutors, and 1,000 lawyers for ICE.
Most of the demands have been rejected by Democrats time and time again. Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, and Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, released a joint statement condemning Trump’s White House for an unreasonable list of demands.
The Administration can’t be serious about compromise or helping the Dreamers if they begin with a list that is anathema to the Dreamers, to the immigrant community and to the vast majority of Americans. If the President was serious about protecting the Dreamers, his staff has not made a good faith effort to do so. – Pelosi, Schumer
Other demands include a complete overhaul of the United States’ green-card system. He wants to limit family-based green cards to minor children and spouses of American citizens and permanent residents. Trump would introduce a point-based system for green card holders.
The White House also said it wants to make deporting unaccompanied minors and gang members easier. They seek to renovate the asylum system and proposed a complete crack-down on sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities when it comes to undocumented immigrants.
“These priorities are essential to mitigate the legal and economic consequences of any grants or status to DACA recipients. We’re asking that these reforms be included in any legislation concerning the status of DACA recipients.” – Marc Short, White House legislative affairs director.
DACA protects 800,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation and allows them to work legally in the country. Trump announced the gradual termination of the program last month and gave Congress six months to come up with a new deal to continue protecting the DREAMers.
Since then, the Trump administration and Congress have made very little progress, and have yet to agree on a permanent fix. Trump’s plans threaten the parents of those protected by DACA, who are just a small percentage of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
Congress and the White House must make their minds up before march to avoid mass deportations, which may be unavoidable, in the end. The only thing that’s certain right now is that DREAMers and the rest of the people supporting undocumented immigrants, won’t give up.