Washington, Sep 15 (EFE).- US President Donald Trump, who wants to resolve the dilemma of “Dreamers” – young undocumented immigrants saved from deportation by DACA – but without supporting any plan that includes amnesty, one of his advisers told EFE in an interview this Friday.
“The president is committed to looking for ways to resolve the dilemma facing DACA beneficiaries,” said Helen Aguirre Ferre, Trump adviser and White House director of media affairs. However, “we can’t talk about any legislative plan” that would replace the DACA program that Trump suspended last week “if it doesn’t equally include measures for strengthening national security,” she said.
Besides, any new plan aimed at protecting the 800,000 undocumented young people who have avoided deportation and obtained work permits thanks to DACA cannot include “anything that includes amnesty or gives the idea of amnesty,” the presidential adviser said.
According to Aguirre Ferre, the president “understands the importance of national security and the need to secure our borders,” and above all wants to make sure “illegal immigration ends.”
Last week Trump suspended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, imposed in 2012 by the executive order of then-President Barack Obama and which has protected from deportation and awarded work permits to 800,000 Dreamers.
However, the suspension of DACA will not take effect for six months, in order to force Congress to find a legislative alternative to the Obama plan.
After a working dinner last Wednesday in the White House, Trump and the Democratic leaders of Congress got closer to an understanding with a Dreamers plan that will include more border security but which will not at present include the wall along the Mexican border, one of Trump’s main campaign promises.
Nonetheless, Trump insisted Thursday that in the end, he will need an understanding with Democrats that if funding for the wall with Mexico is not included in the DACA plan, it must be considered as part of a budget deal or some other kind of agreement.
Aguirre Ferre repeated that Trump “has been very clear that the wall, which symbolizes everything to do with national security, is indispensable.”
It’s not just a “physical wall,” but must also contemplate more border patrols, places to shelter those who arrive illegally in the US, and immigration judges, she added.
After meeting with the Democratic leaders of Congress, Trump announced that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan also agree to push forward with a legislative replacement for DACA.
Having to look for “a new path” for DACA beneficiaries “demands a leader as ferocious as President Trump and someone who wants to work with both parties,” Aguirre Ferre said.
She added that it’s “odd” to see that “Trump wanting to work in a bipartisan way” is reported as “news” when it “shouldn’t be that way.”