The future for “Dreamers” is still up in the air as the President and Congress work to come to a compromise, but will they be able to come to a deal?
Immigration expert, Armando Trull, joined Great Day Washington to detail the latest on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, otherwise known as DACA.
“I think [President Trump] is going to offer a path to legal status to as many as 1.8 million young people brought to this country illegally by their parents” but in exchange, Trull says, President Trump will want more than just money for a border wall. He will also want money for more enforcement inside the country and fundamental changes to the immigration law in the U.S.
“The wall is just one of the bargaining chips. The big enchilada for the people on the right and the Republicans is they want a change in fundamental immigration law that limits the number of family members that can come. They want a lot of interior enforcements and they’re telling the Democrats, if you don’t do this we’re not going to help the DACA recipients, we’re talking 1.8 million. It’s a tough choice for the Democrats.”
Trull says while the focus is on immigrants from Mexico and Central and South Americas, the affect goes way beyond the Latino community.
“A place like Washington, D.C. has many immigrants from all over the world. You have Salvadorans for sure but you also have Ethiopians, Nigerians, Koreans, Chinese, Indians and all of those communities are concerned when the communication starts being about limiting the number of people that can come especially when it comes to family members. For many of them this is not a good development. The Democrats have to decide if they are going to sacrifice 1.8 million DACA recipients for these principles of immigration.”
Congress has until February 8th to come up with a solution for funding to avoid another government shutdown, but will that get done?
Trull says it’s hard to tell at this moment what will happen.
“I think that right now, if you listen to any of the people I have been speaking to, they are not optimistic that a deal can be cut on DACA. The question is whether or not they’re willing to have another government shutdown because of DACA. “
