It’s sort of redundant to say the public is divided on Donald Trump’s approach to government, but the current commander-in-chief’s philosophy on immigration has generated one of the more intense splits in attitudes of Americans. Could a freshly touted Trump vision of granting undocumented immigrants legal status change how he’s perceived?
President Trump told the press that he’s interested in passing an immigration reform bill with the power to grant legal status for millions of undocumented immigrants. At present, Trump’s immigration order and self-described “military operation” crackdown on undocumented immigrants has created a climate of extreme uncertainty for immigrants and non-immigrants alike. The current approach Trump claims has to want is a compromise on the issue.
“The time is right for an immigration bill as long as there is compromise on both sides,” said Trump.
A CNN report has a senior administration official noting that the president was onboard for a bill that would stop short of granting full-on citizenship, but would allow undocumented immigrants to live, work and pay taxes in the U.S without being deported. This offer would not be extended to “serious of violent criminals.”
Questions are already being raised about how Trump’s core base will respond to this approach. The promised wall along the Mexican border and threatened Muslim ban were major components of his campaign sales pitch.
Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that she did not witness the conversation in person, although immigration reform was something she stressed when discussing this potential revamp.
“The president has been very clear in his process that the immigration system is broken and needs massive reform, and he’s made clear that he’s open to having conversations about that moving forward,” she said. “Right now, his primary focus, as he has made over and over again is border control and security at the border and deporting criminals from our country, and keeping our country safe, and those priorities have not changed.”
Immigration is just one of the many issues that will be intensely examined for comment when Donald Trump provides his address to Congress tonight.
(Via New York Times & CNN)