Rep. Mark Meadows said Tuesday that members of the conservative Freedom Caucus would likely back a pathway for citizenship for DACA recipients if border security and chain migration are addressed.
“As we look at that particular point, there is support for that if you get the other parameters,” the North Carolina Republican said on CNN, referring to citizenship for those brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
He said that it was not an easy conclusion for the caucus to reach, but they agreed that President Trump’s four-point proposal was a fair trade-off.
“I can tell you that’s a hard issue for some of my members to swallow, but they’ve been willing to go along with the president’s four pillar proposal,” Mr. Meadows said.
Mr. Trump said he wanted protections for those currently under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program — which shields young immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children from deportation — as well as an end to chain migration, change to the VISA lottery system and border security, including funding specifically for a wall.
A new bipartisan proposal between Sens. John McCain and Chris Coons does not offer funding for a border wall, but Mr. Meadows said there are bipartisan talks on the issue.
“There’s a bipartisan meeting going on right now at very high levels, both in the Senate and the House, as they’re trying to reconcile what we mean by border security, [and] how we’re going to address chain migration,” he said.
The deadline to reach a deal on DACA protections is March 5 — the date set by the president when he announced the end of the Obama-era program after continued legal challenges.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.