Cruz Blasts Citizenship Path for Dreamers Suggested by Trump
Source: Bloomberg News
By Sahil Kapur
January 25, 2018, 3:13 PM EST
Senator Ted Cruz blasted the idea of giving young undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, a day after President Donald Trump said he was open to the idea as part of immigration legislation being negotiated in Congress.
“I do not believe we should be granting a path to citizenship to anybody here illegally,” the Texas Republican said in the Capitol. “Doing so is inconsistent with the promises we made to the men and women who elected us.”
Cruz didn’t mention the president in his remarks, but they resurfaced some of the bitterness still left over from the presidential campaign. Trump fought Cruz for the Republican nomination and won with a hardline immigration stance that rejected “amnesty” for anyone in the country illegally. During the primaries, Cruz also took a strong stance on immigration and came out firmly against legalizing undocumented immigrants. But on Wednesday, with negotiations on immigration legislation in Congress moving slowly, Trump indicated he was willing to be flexible.
“It’s gonna happen at some point in the future, over a period of 10-12 years,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I think it’s a nice thing to have the incentive of after a period of years being able to become a citizen."
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-25/cruz-blasts-citizenship-path-for-dreamers-suggested-by-trump
Rubio rejects bipartisan immigration gang
The Florida Republican is steering clear of bipartisan Senate talks to protect Dreamers — and pushing a more conservative approach.
By BURGESS EVERETT 01/25/2018 12:17 PM EST
Marco Rubio is done with gang life in the Senate.
The Florida GOP senator, a key co-author of the 2013 Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration bill, has no plans to join a swelling bipartisan group of senators trying to strike a deal to protect Dreamers. In an interview, the Cuban-American senator said that with Republicans in full control of Washington, a gang of senators from each party will not dictate Congress’ solution to protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation.
“I don’t believe that what we’re going to end up doing here can be a product of a gang,” Rubio said. “There won’t be a 12-person gang. What we do here cannot be a product of a group of people that come out of a room and say: ‘This is a direction we’re going.’”
In fact, other senators say Rubio prefers a more conservative approach than the bipartisan group. And his reluctance to join the new gang underscores the steep challenge — and sense of pessimism — for reaching an agreement on a tight schedule that can win support from the House, Senate and President Donald Trump.
Senators want to write a bill that can get 60 votes in the Senate by mid-February and hope it will then pass the House and get Trump’s signature.
more
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/25/marco-rubio-reject-bipartisan-immigration-group-368587
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