Sen. Lindsey Graham challenged President Trump on Monday to “close the deal” on immigration, saying the White House should be leading in negotiations, not taking to Twitter to blast negotiators.
The South Carolina Republican was part of the Thursday meeting that derailed talks, after he and Sen. Richard Durbin, Illinois Democrat, presented a plan that included a generous amnesty for illegal immigrant “Dreamers” but made little headway on Mr. Trump’s demands.
The meeting also sparked new controversy when the senators say they wanted to include a new amnesty for people from Haiti, El Salvador and several other troubled nations, and Mr. Trump made derogatory comments toward those countries.
“Mr. President, close the deal — 80 percent of Americans want to give the DACA kids a better life, 80 percent of Americans want to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system,” Mr. Graham said in an interview with WIS-TV.
“It’s not going to be done by tweeting,” Mr. Graham added.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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