White House Says It's Ready To Release Immigration Plan
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The White House said Wednesday it's ready to announce its immigration plan.
"The White House will release a legislative framework on Monday that represents a compromise that members of both parties can support," Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
The White House said its compromise will hit four major points: Securing the border and closing legal loopholes, ending extended family chain migration, cancelling the VISA lottery, and providing a permanent solution on the immigration program Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA.
"After decades of inaction by Congress, it's time we worked together to solve this issue once and for all," said Sanders.
This comes after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., withdrew his offer to fully fund President Donald Trump's long-promised wall along the Mexican border.
As CBS2's Jessica Moore reported, that offer was made during an 11th hour meeting at the White House last week to avoid the government shutdown. Schumer hoped the promise of a wall might convince the president to support a comprehensive immigration bill.
"That was part of a package," he said. "He didn't do that, so we're going to have to start – start on a new basis – and the wall offer is off the table."
Trump responded Wednesday morning on Twitter.
"Cryin' Chuck Schumer fully understands, especially after his humiliating defeat, that if there is no Wall, there is no DACA. We must have safety and security, together with a strong Military, for our great people!" he wrote.
Backlash against Schumer's withdrawal is coming from both sides of the aisle, with Democrats saying he sold out the party, and Republicans calling the move a step backward in negotiations.
"I hope that Democrats realize that we are serious in working on a bipartisan solution to the DACA situation," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.
The Senate's deal to end last week's government shutdown included a promise from Republicans to try to vote DACA, into law.
"I intend to keep my word," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said.
Congress now has only 15 days to avoid another shutdown. In that time, a bipartisan group of four leaders must craft a compromise on immigration.
"We're going to have a fair and open process that will give everybody an opportunity to participate," said McConnell.
Schumer is sticking to his guns, saying immigration reform won't happen overnight.
"We're a lot better off today when it comes to the cause of Dreamers than we were four or five days ago," he said. "When there is a Republican president, a Republican Senate, a Republican House that are quite recalcitrant against Dreamers, you're not going to get it all at once."
But now, with a new initiative from the White House, it's not clear what's next. Sanders was asked if the DACA plan included a road to citizenship.
"I'm not going to get ahead, I'm not going to go any further than we have in laying out the principles that we've laid out the last several days," she said.
The White House had faced criticism from negotiators for not making clear exactly what the president wants. So it appears that releasing a plan is in part a reaction to that, CBS2's Dick Brennan reported.
The announcement Monday will also tee up Trump's State of the Union Address on Tuesday.
Funding for DACA expires on March 5. But without a deal on immigration by February 8, the federal government could be in for another shutdown.