Donald Trump Rejects Lindsey Graham’s Push for DACA Amnesty

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 6: (L-R) President Donald Trump speaks to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R
Drew Angerer/Getty
Neil Munro

President Donald Trump and a group of GOP senators quickly rejected a DACA amnesty deal pushed by Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday afternoon – but left the door open to future negotiations.

They will now wait until after the Supreme Court decides on the legality of Barack Obama’s work permit giveaway to 800,000 younger illegals, says multiple media reports.

The quick amnesty pitch by Graham (R-SC) was rejected when GOP Senators urged Trump to wait until the court releases its decision, due by June. The court’s decision may give Trump more leverage as he tries to get an immigration reform deal from Democrats, a GOP source told Breitbart News.

Politico reported:

Trump told Republican senators at the White House Thursday that he will punt on a proposal until after an upcoming Supreme Court ruling that could overturn the temporary protections for Dreamers the Obama administration implemented, known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Graham used Politico to spin Trump’s rejection as a win for his pro-employer, cheap-labor policies. He told Politico:

“The take away for me is if the court rules in the president’s favor, we’re not going to allow these folks to have their lives turned upside down, but we will try to put together a package that protects the DACA population,” Graham said, adding the package will also address “how the system is so broken.”

Fox News reported also reported Graham’s spin:

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday said President Trump is “receptive” to a package that would keep protections for certain illegal immigrants shielded from deportation under an Obama-era order, while addressing underlying issues within the immigration system, after a meeting with Republican senators at the White House.

“It was good,” he said when asked by Fox News about the meeting. “We don’t know what’s going to happen in June, the president’s already put an offer on the table for 1.8 million DACA-eligible folks to have a pathway to citizenship, but he wants to get something to address the underlying problem.”

The labor and wages issue cuts to the heart of Trump’s presidency. He won the 2016 election on an American First” policy and swore on inauguration day he would push a “Hire American” policy.

But business interests — and his own sympathy for employers — have pushed back on his “Hire American” policy.

The result is Trump zig-zags his way forward with a mix of tough border rules and economic growth policies that have spiked stock for investors and raised wages for lower-skilled blue-collar workers. Trump sometimes boasts about the wage gains for blue collars, but his zig-zag policies have done little for white collar college graduates — or reduce the resident population of at least one million Indian visa workers.

 The GOP Senators at the meeting included Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Tom Cotton (R-Ark), Martha McSally (R-Ariz), Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.),  David Perdue (R.Ga.)  and Thom Tillis (R-NC).

Lee and Cramer are backing the much delayed S.386 bill, which would offer green cards and citizenship to roughly 60,000 Indians each year if they take college graduate jobs from American graduates. Many business groups back Lee’s legislation because it would depress Americans’ salaries and boost investors’ stocks.

Tillis is not a co-sponsor of S.386 but has repeatedly backed legislation allowing employers to import more foreign workers for employers.

In 2017, Johnson backed a bill that would allow states to import foreign workers to replace millions of Americans. The intention of the bill, he said, was “making sure that American businesses have the labor they need.”

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