The post Trump immigration plan includes citizenship path for 1.8 million “Dreamers” first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

President Trump’s plan would also include a massive cut in family-based immigration and the end to a diversity visa lottery system that gives preference to immigrants from under-represented countries, according to a White House briefing for congressional staffers and Trump allies hosted by White House senior adviser Stephen Miller.

The proposal is designed to win 60 Senate votes and break a potential filibuster that could trigger another government shutdown next month, Miller said on the call, to which USA TODAY obtained access.

The path to citizenship has been among the most contentious issues in the immigration debate over the last decade, and Trump himself has taken inconsistent positions on it. But in an impromptu group interview with reporters Wednesday, the president said he’s willing to consider citizenship for so-called DREAMers who came to the United States as children.

“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,” Trump said. That period would be 10 to 12 years, Trump said.

Yet the proposal to cut back family-based immigration is sure to draw fire from Democrats, as it represents a nearly 25% cut to legal immigration into the country. Under the new plan, Miller said that U.S. citizens and green card holders will only be allowed to sponsor their spouses and minor children to enter the country.

Congress passed a short-term funding bill over the weekend to keep the government open until Feb. 8; Democrats have insisted the Senate take up an immigration bill before voting on any additional funding. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Thursday that he appreciated Trump laying out his immigration objectives. “I am hopeful that as discussions continue in the Senate on the subject of immigration, Members on both sides of the aisle will look to this framework for guidance as they work towards an agreement,” he said.

The plan addresses four issues that the White House has insisted be included in any immigration fix:

► DREAMers. The bill would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, known as DREAMers. The number of immigrants who could qualify would be larger than the group protected under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. That program covered nearly 800,000 DREAMers, but Miller said the new plan could protect up to 1.8 million people, which is “substantially larger than the DACA population.”

The immigrants who would be eligible to apply for citizenship may face a process that could take 10 to 12 years, according to Trump.  “We’re going to morph into it,” Trump told reporters. “I think it’s a nice thing to have the incentive of, after a period of years, being able to become a citizen.”

Eligibility criteria would include requirements for “work, education and good moral character,” according to a White House summary of the plan.

That plan mirrors a bipartisan Senate proposal that would allow DREAMers to become citizens after 12 years, or 10 years if they were approved for DACA.

More: After the shutdown, 4 things that make the road ahead to a ‘DREAMer’ deal rocky

► Border security. The White House has proposed a $25 billion “trust fund” to build at least parts of a wall along the United States-Mexico border. That represents a sharp increase from the $18 billion that the Department of Homeland Security requested in recent weeks, but also includes improvements to ports of entry on the Canadian border as well.

While the wall has been a sticking point for congressional Democrats, Trump said Wednesday: “If you don’t have a wall, you don’t have DACA.”

The border wall could be a contentious issue among Democrats. In negotiations over a spending bill to keep the government open last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told Trump he would be willing to appropriate money for a border wall in exchange for protections for DREAMers, but was turned down. The government shut down early Saturday morning and did not reopen until Monday.

After a weekend of blaming each other for the breakdown in negotiations, Schumer rescinded his offer to fund the wall – and it is not clear, at this point, that Democrats would be willing to put it back on the table.

► Family-based migration: The White House plan would restrict the practice of sponsoring relatives for green cards to “nuclear families,” namely spouses and minor children. That practice, dubbed “chain migration” by Trump and other critics, has long been the main source of immigration into the U.S.

According to an analysis of Department of Homeland Security data, the proposed cut would eliminate nearly a quarter of the roughly 1 million immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. each year.

In 2016, the U.S. government granted lawful permanent residence known as green cards to 1.2 million foreigners. More than 260,000 green cards – 23% – were granted to parents, adult children, siblings, grandchildren, nieces and nephews of U.S. citizens and green card holders.

More: What is ‘chain migration’ and why does President Trump want to end it?

► Visa lottery.  Created by Congress in 1990, the diversity visa lottery grants 50,000 visas a year to people from countries under-represented in the U.S. In recent years, most have come from Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

The White House plan would devote those slots to fill in the family-based and high-skilled visa backlog. After those slots are filled, the visa lottery would end completely, Miller said.

Like McConnell, many Republicans in Congress applauded Trump for putting forward a proposal without actually endorsing all the elements of the plan. Democratic leaders did not immediately respond, but some lawmakers saw immediate flaws in Trump’s plan. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said in a tweet “There is no public policy justification for cutting legal immigration in half. None.”

And liberal icon Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called the plan “insulting” and an “anti-immigrant wish list.”

Some conservatives were equally skeptical of what they called an expansion of “amnesty” for immigrants now in the country illegally. “Amnesty comes in many forms, but it seems they all eventually grow in size and scope, said Michael Needham, CEO of the conservative political group Heritage Action for America. “Any proposal that expands the amnesty-eligible population risks opening pandora’s box, and . . .  should be a non-starter.”

Contributing: Alan Gomez reported from Miami

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/experience/food-and-wine/news-festivals-events/2018/01/25/trump-team-unveils-new-immigration-framework-path-citizenship-dreamers/1066980001/

The post Trump team unveils new immigration framework with path to citizenship for DREAMers first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) talk to reporters as they exit a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Party leaders and rank-and-file senators spent all day Sunday haggling over a deal to reopen the government. But Washington’s painful shutdown will nonetheless drag into Day Three.

Shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the chamber would vote on a plan at noon Monday to fund the government through Feb. 8. In an attempted concession to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, McConnell said he would take up legislation to protect some young immigrants from deportation if a deal to address their status is not reached by the time funding expires in early February.

Schumer said further negotiations were needed and spurned McConnell’s request, pushing a vote until Monday, when hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed.

“Talks will continue, but we have yet to reach an agreement on a path forward that would be acceptable for both sides,” Schumer said.

The vote Monday is expected to fail absent further progress between the two party leaders before then.

Senate Republicans will have a conference meeting at 11 a.m. Monday to discuss the state of play, aides said.

The late-night exchange capped a furious round of negotiations Sunday between Schumer and McConnell, as well as a group of deal-making senators desperate to reopen the shuttered government. Senators from both parties took a proposal to the party leaders after the centrists met for 90 minutes on Sunday afternoon.

Their proposal would reopen the government through Feb. 8 and have McConnell commit on the Senate floor to holding an immigration vote before that date — a commitment that McConnell approached but did not definitively agree to, in part because Republicans worry they could not complete an immigration debate before the next funding deadline.

Keeping the shutdown going given McConnell’s stated goal of an immigration vote would be “counterproductive,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) as the Senate adjourned for the night. As for Democrats’ push for a more firm immigration commitment from the GOP leader, Graham suggested McConnell’s Sunday night statement would have to suffice: “I assume if we get a deal, it will be more formal.”

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who along with Graham is meeting with roughly 20 senators in both parties, said he hoped the group would meet again.

After not speaking on Saturday, McConnell and Schumer met privately for more than 30 minutes on Sunday. Schumer, however, did not talk to the president, an aide said.

Flake said the Senate needs to move independently of the White House at this point to resolve the confrontation that’s produced the first shutdown in more than four years.

“The important thing is breaking with the White House on this and not relying on the White House to give its approval,” Flake said.

Despite his public thaw after two days of lashing Democrats, it remains to be seen whether McConnell can provide enough reassurance to Democrats to win their votes. Some Democrats said they need to know the House would take action on an immigration bill, too.

“We have to have in our own mind some way to ensure that the House feels a need to bring up the issue as well,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

The centrists are eager to end the brinkmanship that has erupted at the one-year mark of Donald Trump’s presidency. Democrats insist that any funding legislation extend Obama-era protections for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, while Republicans have said they won’t negotiate on immigration until the government reopens.

The group of roughly 20 moderates includes Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Flake, Graham, Mark Warner (D-Va.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).

Some liberals are still wary. They fear that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) could repeat the exercise of 2013, when the Senate passed an immigration bill and the House didn’t take it up.

“It depends on whether it’s part of a must-pass bill. That is my strong preference. The goal is to have the [DREAM] Act passed,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in an interview. “I have no confidence, zero, in Paul Ryan bringing that bill to the floor.”

Republican leaders are also skeptical. They believe committing to an immigration vote would just throw Democrats a lifeline and prefer to negotiate on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program only after the government reopens.

“Does that mean if we have an agreement by [Feb.] 15 that that’s not good enough?” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of the plan to hold an immigration vote by Feb. 8. “I just think people are nervous because they shut down the government and are looking for face-saving.”

Still, McConnell listened to the presentation by a group of GOP senators to allow such a vote by Feb. 8. He thanked those Republicans on the floor Sunday evening.

So far, House Republican leaders have rejected the idea of committing to holding an immigration vote on the House floor and are refusing to negotiate on anything beyond a three-week continuing resolution. Ryan said Sunday the House will accept a short-term bill through Feb. 8 but will commit only to an immigration bill “that the president supports to fix this problem.”

Though negotiations in the Senate gained some traction, both parties continued to execute their public relations strategies. Democrats blasted Trump, blaming him for walking away from an immigration deal with Schumer on Friday that they say could have prevented the shutdown.

“How can you negotiate with the president under those circumstances where he agrees face-to-face to move forward with a certain path and then within two hours calls back and pulls the plug?” Durbin said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

Schumer offered Trump support for the border wall in exchange for a deal to protect the nearly 700,000 so-called Dreamers facing deportation. But since then, Republicans and Democrats have publicly sparred over whether Schumer was offering full funding for the wall or not.

Republicans, meanwhile, accused Democrats of taking “hostages” in order to strong-arm the GOP into an immigration deal that has eluded Congress for years.

“This is the Democrats trying to hold our military hostage for an issue that has been with us for decades,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said on ABC. “I think we need to resolve it — the president wants to resolve it — but you don’t do that in the middle of a shutdown.”

But even Republicans seemed uncomfortable defending a Trump campaign ad saying Democratic leaders would be “complicit” in murders committed by undocumented immigrants during the shutdown. Republican leaders know they will need Democratic cooperation to break the shutdown logjam.

“I don’t know if that’s necessarily productive,” Ryan said of the Trump ad.

So far, Trump has not called for a meeting with the “Big Four” congressional leaders — McConnell, Schumer, Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — and Republicans on the Sunday news shows gave no indication he would do so. But White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said Trump has been in touch with GOP leaders throughout the weekend.

“The president has been involved,” Short said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Yesterday he was speaking to Leader McConnell, Leader Ryan. He also spoke to Kevin McCarthy.”

John Bresnahan and Rachael Bade contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/21/government-shutdown-2018-trump-senate-354113

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The operation was the largest worksite enforcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, since Republican President Donald Trump took office last January, agency spokeswoman Danielle Bennett said in an email.

“Today’s actions send a strong message to U.S. businesses that hire and employ an illegal workforce: ICE will enforce the law, and if you are found to be breaking the law, you will be held accountable,” ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan said in a statement.

Taking a harder line on illegal immigration, including building a wall at the border with Mexico, was a touchstone for Trump during the 2016 election campaign.

At a White House meeting on Tuesday, Trump urged lawmakers to quickly reach a bipartisan deal on a program for “Dreamers,” people who came to the country illegally as children, before moving on to a comprehensive immigration bill.

“Notices of inspection” were delivered on Wednesday to 98 7-Eleven stores in 17 states and the District of Columbia beginning at 6 a.m. in each local time zone. Owners and managers have three business days to produce documents showing their employees are in the country legally or they could face civil and criminal penalties, ICE said.

The states where the employment audit notices were served were California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, ICE said.

The company said in an emailed statement that the ICE actions were taken at franchised stores, whose owners and not the company are responsible for making hiring decisions based on compliance with federal, state and local laws. That includes verifying immigration status, 7-Eleven said.

Based in Irving, Texas, 7-Eleven has 60,000 convenience stores in 18 countries, including 8,500 in the United States, according to its website.

The federal operation was a follow-up to the 2013 arrests of nine 7-Eleven franchise owners and managers, ICE said in a statement. Those owners were accused of hiring employees living illegally in the United States and giving them identities stolen from U.S. citizens.

The 21 people who were “administratively arrested” on Wednesday on suspicion of being in the country illegally were given notices to appear in immigration court and could be deported.

Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-immigration-7-eleven/u-s-immigration-operation-targets-7-eleven-stores-in-17-states-idUSKBN1EZ2S4

The post U.S. immigration operation targets 7-Eleven stores in 17 states first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.