President Donald Trump suggested that DACA recipients will be allowed to remain in the country and will ultimately be given a pathway to citizenship as a part of a broader immigration deal he expects to strike with Congress in the coming weeks. Asked whether DREAMers should be concerned that they can be deported on March 5 if a deal is not reached, the president responded, “tell them not to be concerned, OK? Tell them not to worry. We’re going to solve the problem.”
The comments came in an unexpected session with White House reporters during what began as an off-the-record meeting with Chief of Staff John Kelly at the White House yesterday. Because the meeting with Kelly was off the record, no cameras were in the room. The president dropped in on the meeting however, and allowed microphones to record audio portion of his comments.
Asked whether DACA recipients would be given a pathway to citizenship as part of any broader immigration deal, the president said, “we’re going to morph into it, it is going to happen.” He added, “over ten or twelve years, if someone has done a great job, if they have worked hard…I think it’s a nice thing to have an incentive of, after a period of years, being able to become a citizen.”
The president reiterated his desire to see certain provisions included in any larger immigration compromise on DACA, which include a revision of the chain migration system, a replacement for, or an end to, the visa lottery program and a wall on the southern border. The president said he wants to see $30 billion in border security funding included in any immigration plan – $25 billion for the wall plus $5 billion for other measures.
Asked about Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer’s comments yesterday, in which he said the offer for the wall is off the table, President Trump struck an optimistic tone but said, “I can tell you this, if you don’t have a wall, you don’t have DACA.”
Democrats and Republicans reached a deal earlier this week whereby the government would remain funded until February 8, giving Congress and the White House time to reach a deal on immigration. That deal ended a three-day government shutdown. The White House has reiterated many times that funding for a border wall must be included in any deal that provides a solution to DACA.
An open and accessible president also took questions on the special counsel’s investigation into Russian collusion. Asked whether he would be giving an interview to special counsel Robert Mueller in the coming weeks, the president replied that he would. “I’m looking forward to it actually,” he said.
The president seemed to quibble a little bit with the definition of obstruction of justice though, as seen by the team investigating the affair. “Here’s what we’ll say: No collusion. There’s no collusion. Now they’re saying, ‘Did he fight back?’ So if you fight back, whoa, it’s obstruction,” the president said.