Sounds like Trump talking publicly about what he doesn’t believe privately – it’s a reverse Hillary. If he meant it it would have been in tonight’s address.
President Trump on Tuesday said he is open to an immigration reform bill that could provide a pathway to legal status — but not citizenship — for potentially millions of people who are in the United States illegally but have not committed serious crimes.
At a private White House luncheon with television news anchors, Trump signaled an openness to a compromise that would represent a softening from the crackdown on all undocumented immigrants that he promised during his campaign and that his more hard-line supporters have long advocated.
“The time is right for an immigration bill as long as there is compromise on both sides,” Trump told the anchors. His comments, reported by several of the journalists present, were confirmed by an attendee of the luncheon.
Trump said he hopes both sides can come together to draft legislation in his first term that holistically addresses the country’s immigration system, which has been the subject of intense and polarizing debate in Washington for more than a decade.
The comments were particularly striking given Trump’s long history of criticism of U.S. immigration policy and a presidential campaign centered on talk of mass deportations of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
At the meeting with television anchors, Trump suggested he is willing to address legal status for those who are in the country illegally but have not committed crimes. But he would not necessarily support a pathway to citizenship, except perhaps for “Dreamers,” who were brought into the country illegally as children, according to a report by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper, who attended the luncheon.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House principal deputy press secretary, said she could not confirm Trump’s comments in the private luncheon.
“The president has been very clear in his process that the immigration system is broken and needs massive reform, and he’s made clear that he’s open to having conversations about that moving forward,” Sanders said in a Tuesday afternoon briefing with reporters. “Right now his primary focus, as he has made [clear] over and over again, is border control and security at the border.”
Trump has vowed to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and increase funding for federal law enforcement efforts in border areas. He also has instructed the Department of Homeland Security to round up and deport those in this country illegally who have committed serious crimes or caused violence.
The president likened recent immigration raids to “a military operation,” although Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly made clear the military was not involved in conducting them.
He has always said compromise is necessary, within boundaries.
sounds like the WaPo is hoping that Trump won’t deport the illegal aliens that grind away for slave wages in the Jeff Bezos Amazon Empire
… ‘effin’ hypocrites …
Yeahhhh no. How about no.
So not committing a crime is supposed to be something that qualifies illegal aliens for rewards and relief from legal action and removal from this country? I am so sick of this freaking way of thinking and the blatant disregard for our immigration statutes! Just because these parasites have yet to commit a crime doesn’t guarantee they never will. They shouldn’t have that benefit in the first place after already violating our laws by illegally entering. Pres. Trump needs to get right on this and stop obfuscating dammit!
People have read a lot of innuendo into many of Trump’s statements, many times incorrectly. When he says something solid and specific about this topic then I will consider him to be serious, at which point I will be interested to hear his explanation.
More Fake News.
As a follow-up: When you hear the story from ABC, CNN, WaPo – and those are the story linked above and the two on Drudge… I’ll wait for Fox News or Breitbart or Daily Caller, thank you very much.
Fuck compromise send them out of the country they are here illegally.
Willing to compromise? Like a salesman starting the conversation about price, because he knows you are going to bite.
He is being held hostage by his own party leadership. They could confirm his Cabinet nominees tomorrow, if they wanted to. They have the votes.
There will be neither immigration reform, nor mass deportations. The political environment is too toxic and is likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future. Immigration was the issue that tanked/emasculated the G.W. Bush administration during the Republican majority in Congress. All they could agree on was more spending.
Immigration is far too complex for one piece of legislation, no matter how “comprehensive.” The demand for comprehensive action 25 years ago doomed the process.
Trump might try to begin enforcing the existing laws, if he can get his administration confirmed, but I get the feeling the Establishment knows the confirmation process is their best bargaining chip and are unlikely to give it up anytime soon.
NO. NO. NO. Deport all illegals. Good grief where the he*** does this idea that we are going to only selectively enforce our laws come from? I’ll answer my own question, the Alinskyites, Bolsheviks, and third world invaders who bring their banana republic governance ideas with them. I thought Trump said that we either have a country, or we don’t. If Trump backslides on this I will vote democrat in the next election. Enforcement of our immigration laws is the make-or-break issue on which Trump’s presidency and legacy will be based. He can go with the people, or he can go with the elitists and agitators and Alinskyites. He will not be able to play both sides vs the middle on this. I hope Jeff Sessions can straighten him out on this.
In any other country, being an uninvited guest is a serious crime.
don’t get your panties in a twist.
didn’t he say it would be for illegals who have committed no crime ?
well doesn’t that leave out all illegals ?
who are after all defined to be criminals ?
nuance !