Angus King: DACA bill could be the first step to comprehensive immigration reform

Sen. Angus King said Thursday that President Trump might be the only one who can pass any type of immigration reform.

“If anyone could make a deal on comprehensive immigration reform and make it work nationally, it would be this president. I think he’s trying to set us up to get something done. Now the question is, what do we have to add to the DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] bill, to the ’Dreamer’ bill that’s already pending that Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin have, to make it work on a bipartisan basis and sell it to the president,” Mr. King, Maine independent, said on CNN, referring to two fellow senators.

Mr. King also added that he doesn’t see the border wall being part of the pending legislation, but he does see increased funding toward border security. He said that while he may disagree with the president’s decision to end DACA, the Obama-era immigration policy that allowed children brought to the U.S. illegally to stay, he said the president seemed open to working on a permanent solution.

“I think the fact that he tweeted what he did yesterday indicates he was actually having an awfully hard time with this decision. I don’t like the decision that he made. On the other hand, he’s said to us, ’Here’s the time you have time to work on this.’ He’s clearly indicated that he wants to work on this,” Mr. King added