Trump Gave Up Deal to Keep Immigration as an Issue
FEB 16 2018, 8:46 AM ET
Trump picks politics over policy on immigration vote
by CHUCK TODD, MARK MURRAY and CARRIE DANN
WASHINGTON — In the immigration debate, President Trump had two options before him: 1) make a good-faith effort to reach a compromise on border security and DACA, or 2) keep immigration as a political issue for his base going into the 2018 midterms and 2020.
He chose Door No. 2, at least when it came to the legislation the Senate considered this week.
Think about it: The measure Trump insisted on — the bill by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, which contained cuts to legal immigration in addition to citizenship for DACA recipients — received just 39 of the needed 60 votes to advance; 14 Republicans voted against it. Compare that with the 52 and 54 Senate votes the bipartisan immigration bills received. What’s more, a similar Trump-backed bill in the House, by House Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte, appears to lack the votes needed to pass that chamber.
As a result, the ONLY way a bill was going to pass was if it was bipartisan and championed by the president. But what did the Trump administration do? It blasted out this press from the Department of Homeland Security about the legislation with the most bipartisan support: “SCHUMER-ROUNDS-COLLINS DESTROYS ABILITY OF DHS TO ENFORCE IMMIGRATION LAWS, CREATING A MASS AMNESTY FOR OVER 10 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS, INCLUDING CRIMINALS.” That’s not a statement from an administration that wants a deal.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/trump-picks-politics-over-policy-immigration-vote-n848616
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