- Donald Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, said that Dreamers will begin to lose their legal protection and work permits on March 5 without congressional action
- Kelly said 'I doubt very much' that Trump would intervene to save the program
- Trump's administration ruled DACA unconstitutional in September and gave Congress six months to come up with a legislative fix
- Last month Trump offered to protect the entire population of Dreamers - 1.8 million - in exchange for his border wall and an end to certain visa practices
- Includes 'the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their a**es, but they didn’t sign up,' Kelly said
- Democrats rejected the president's immigration framework on its face
President Donald Trump isn't going to come to the rescue of DACA recipients when their paperwork begins to expire next month, his top lieutenant said Tuesday.
Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol that unless lawmakers cement the program with legislation by a March 5 deadline, Dreamers will begin to lose their legal protection and work permits.
Some 690,000 illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors are currently recognized as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protectees, Kelly said. The administration is offering to cover the entire 1.8 million population of Dreamers.
The difference in the numbers are 'the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their a**es, but they didn’t sign up,' Kelly said Tuesday.
President Trump's Department of Justice ruled the program unconstitutional in September. It gave Congress a six-month grace period to act before the DACA program formally began to wind down.
Kelly said Tuesday, 'I doubt very much' that Trump would intervene to save the program, and he is 'not so sure this president has the authority to extend it.'
The Trump chief of staff and former Department of Homeland Security chief told reporters he would not recommend a short-term extension of DACA to the president.
'What makes them act is pressure,' he said of Members of Congress, according to the Washington Post.
Trump's offer to provide a pathway to citizenship to 1.8 million illegal immigrants goes hand-in-hand with the $25 billion request he put into Congress for border security and his wall. He also asked Congress to end the diversity visa lottery and put strict new rules on chain migration.
Kelly said that Trump had been 'generous' with the framework that Democrats have rejected on its face.
'If before the champions of DACA were members on one side of the aisle, I would say right now the champion of all people who are DACA is Donald Trump — but you would never write that,' he stated.
Trump's plot to allow 1.8 million Dreamers to stay in the U.S. permanently goes further than what Barack Obama offered through DACA.
'There are 690,000 official DACA registrants and the president sent over what amounts to be two and a half times that number, to 1.8 million,' Kelly said, according to the Post. 'The difference between [690,000] and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn’t sign up.'
Chiming into the conversation on Tuesday morning, President Trump said, 'Polling shows nearly 7 in 10 Americans support an immigration reform package that includes DACA, fully secures the border, ends chain migration & cancels the visa lottery.
'If D’s oppose this deal, they aren’t serious about DACA-they just want open borders,' he accused.
In another tweet, Trump said, 'We need a 21st century MERIT-BASED immigration system. Chain migration and the visa lottery are outdated programs that hurt our economic and national security.'
Yesterday, Sens. John McCain and Chris Coons released a bipartisan plan they see as a starting point for a floor debate that would give Dreamers a pathway to citizenship while border security and illegal immigration practices are being studied.
The bill does not have the provisions on chain migration and the diversity visa lottery that Trump says have to be included in immigration reform legislation for him to sign it.
An unnamed White House official told CNN that the McCain-Coons bill is the worst piece of immigration legislation that's been proposed so far.
Making himself clear on Monday, President Trump also said, 'Any deal on DACA that does not include STRONG border security and the desperately needed WALL is a total waste of time. March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Dems seem not to care about DACA. Make a deal!'