Nancy Pelosi says Trump said he'd sign the Dream Act if Congress were to pass it
President Trump has told congressional leaders that he would sign legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for people who came to the U.S. illegally as children, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Thursday.
At her weekly press conference, Pelosi recounted the meeting she had with Mr. Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and the two GOP leaders in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
"We made it very clear in the course of the conversation that the priority was to pass the DREAM Act," Pelosi said. "Obviously, it has to be bipartisan."
"The president said he supports that, and he would sign it, but we have to get it passed and that's our high priority," she added.
On Wednesday, Schumer said that Democrats will try to attach the DREAM Act to must-pass legislation if GOP leaders don't bring the bill up for a vote by the end of September.
This comes after the Trump administration announced this week that it was ending the 2012 program created by Obama that has deferred deportations for more than 780,000 people who came to the U.S. illegally as children. The decision gives lawmakers until early March to come up with legislative fix for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
Mr. Trump tried to reassure DACA beneficiaries Thursday that they won't be rounded up -- at Pelosi's urging.
For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about - No action!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2017
Pelosi acknowledged at her press conference that she had asked the president to convey that message to "Dreamers" during a phone call with him Thursday morning.