Lawmakers seek deal on immigration, border security

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bargainers searching for a bipartisan immigration accord deliberate talks as quickly as Wednesday as President Donald Trump and main lawmakers sought to parlay a rare White House assembly into momentum for resolving a politically blistering subject.

Facing a Jan. 19 deadline for averting an election-year authorities shutdown, negotiators had been searching for a method for reviving protections towards deportation that Trump has ended for almost 800,000 immigrants who arrived illegally within the U.S. as youngsters. In trade, Trump and Republicans need toughened border protections and tightened restrictions on others making an attempt emigrate to this nation.

“I am going to take all the warmth you need,” Trump advised almost two dozen lawmakers Tuesday on the White House for a gathering that started with a startling 55 minutes wherein reporters and TV cameras watched. “But you aren’t that far-off from complete immigration reform.”

Trump mentioned an immigration deal might be reached in two phases — first by addressing younger immigrants and border security with what he referred to as a “invoice of affection,” then by making complete modifications which have lengthy eluded Congress. That second invoice would possible face lengthy odds for passage, contemplating long-running disagreements over points like deal with all 11 million immigrants illegally within the U.S.

Republicans will want Democratic votes to forestall a federal shutdown in 10 days, votes Democrats have threatened to withhold with out an immigration settlement. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., advised reporters talks would start as early as Wednesday, including, “And we’ll clear up this downside and discover frequent floor.”

Negotiations over the DACA program could also be extra difficult in mild of a federal decide’s ruling Tuesday evening to dam briefly the administration’s choice to finish this system. In doing so, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco granted a request by California and different plaintiffs to let lawsuits over the administration’s choice play out in courtroom.

Alsup mentioned legal professionals in favor of DACA clearly demonstrated that the younger immigrants “had been more likely to endure severe, irreparable hurt” with out courtroom motion. The decide additionally mentioned the legal professionals had a robust likelihood of succeeding at trial.

Early Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders mentioned the ruling was “outrageous, particularly in mild of the President’s profitable bipartisan assembly with House and Senate members on the White House on the identical day.” She mentioned the problem ought to “undergo the conventional legislative course of” and pledged Trump “will work with members of each events to achieve a everlasting answer.”

After Trump and lawmakers hung out assembly privately, the White House and quite a few lawmakers mentioned there was settlement to restrict the fast invoice to 4 areas. These had been border security, family-based “chain migration,” a visa lottery that pulls folks from various nations and revive the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

That Obama-era program has given tons of of hundreds — the so-called Dreamers — a defend from deportation and the best to work legally. Trump ended it final yr however gave Congress till March 5 to discover a repair, and Tuesday he signaled flexibility.

“I believe my positions are going to be what the folks on this room give you,” Trump mentioned through the Cabinet Room assembly.

Trump even flashed some give on his cherished plan to construct a wall alongside the border with Mexico, maybe his highest profiled pledge from final yr’s presidential marketing campaign. That proposal has been strongly opposed by Democrats and plenty of Republicans as a futile waste of cash.

Trump mentioned it needn’t be a “2,000-mile wall. We do not want a wall the place you might have rivers and mountains and every part else defending it. But we do want a wall for a reasonably good portion.” He’d made related statements final yr, however this time it was within the context of negotiations for precise laws.

Both events had been already exhibiting indicators of divisions over how a lot to present in upcoming talks. But one conservative foe of giving floor acknowledged the influence of Trump’s assist.

“There are scores of Republicans who’ve shifted their place to comply with the president,” mentioned Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. He mentioned whereas he helped head off a bipartisan immigration effort in 2013, “I do not need to promise the end result would be the identical. This is extra momentum than I’ve ever seen.”

Among Democrats, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who attended the White House assembly, mentioned he was open to negotiations on the 4 points bargainers will tackle.

But Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who was not there and like Cuellar is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, mentioned he favored a slender invoice defending Dreamers with maybe one thing negotiable on border security.

“They took the hostage,” Gallego mentioned of Trump’s motion that may finish Dreamers’ protections. “We’re not going to pay for it.”

One attendee, No. 2 Senate Democratic chief Dick Durbin of Illinois, mentioned, “The sense of urgency, the dedication to DACA, the truth that the president mentioned to me privately in addition to publicly, ‘I need to get this executed,’ I’ll take him as his phrase.”

Underscoring the trouble’s recent momentum, the top of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Michelle Grisham Lujan, D-N.M., mentioned late Tuesday she was “inspired” by Trump’s phrases and would work “in good religion” towards a deal. Some of the group’s members have taken a tough line towards surrendering an excessive amount of in a compromise with Trump.

Conservatives rapidly sounded alarms a few course of that may result in a complete settlement on immigration, a path that has lengthy been anathema to many rank-and-file Republicans.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chief of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, mentioned in a textual content message after the White House assembly he was “usually” against a two-step course of “as a result of historical past would point out the second step by no means occurs.” He later mentioned that if the primary steps included the 4 areas outlined by the White House, “then I might assist a two-step course of realizing that the first step is the one factor that’s assured.”

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AP reporters Kevin Freking, Andrew Taylor and Marcy Gordon contributed.