Jeff Flake on Trump Calling Dreamers ‘Illegal’: ‘You Could Feel the Groans from a Lot of People, Including Me’

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) chided President Donald Trump during his State of the Union address on Tuesday for referring to “Dreamers” as “illegal.”

Sen. Flake told reporters on Tuesday night after the State of the Union address, “You could feel the groans from a lot of people including me.”

.@JeffFlake tells me he wasn’t pleased with Trump’s reference to Dreamers as “illegal”: “You could feel the groans from a lot of people, including me.”

— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) January 31, 2018

President Trump suggested in his State of the Union speech that his administration will grant a pathway to citizenship to more than 1.8 million immigrants, provided they meet certain standards.

Trump explained:

The first pillar of our framework generously offers a path to citizenship for 1.8 million illegal immigrants who were brought here by their parents at a young age — that covers almost three times more people than the previous administration. Under our plan, those who meet education and work requirements, and show good moral character, will be able to become full citizens of the United States.

Breitbart News fact-checked the assertion that President Trump proposed amnesty for 1.8 million Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal aliens would remain limited to just 1.8 million and found that it would likely expand to include roughly 4.5 million illegal immigrants obtaining citizenship.

Breitbart News reported, “Currently, there are nearly 800,000 illegal aliens enrolled in Obama’s DACA program. The White House amnesty plan would potentially sextuple this number of illegal aliens receiving amnesty and a pathway to citizenship.”

Critics and experts also suggest that a DACA amnesty could become open-ended and never-ending, similar to the 1986 illegal immigrant amnesty.