United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered up to 1.8 million young undocumented immigrants a way to become American citizens, but said he would not budge on measures that would curb some legal immigration programmes and help his administration build a border wall with Mexico, Reuters reported on Thursday.
“Over a period of 10 to 12 years, somebody does a great job, they work hard – that gives incentive to do a great job,” The New York Times quoted Trump as saying. “Whatever they are doing, if they do a great job, I think it’s a nice thing to have the incentive of, after a period of years, being able to become a citizen.”
The White House said this was a major concession to the Democrats, who have been battling the Republicans in the Senate over protection for such undocumented immigrants. The Barack Obama-era programme – known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA – protects seven lakh undocumented immigrants who came to the US when they were young from being sent out of the country. In September 2017, Trump had ended the programme and allowed the Congress to replace it by March 2018.
However, if the Democrats agree to Trump’s proposal, they would have to say yes to slashing family sponsorship of immigrants, tightening border security and using billions of dollars to fund a border wall with Mexico, which was one of the major campaign promises of the president.
“This is legislation that really represents a bipartisan consensus point,” CNN quoted an unidentified senior White House official as saying. “It is extremely generous in terms of the DACA piece and then fulfils all four of the president’s priorities.”
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!