Ben Cardin: Dreamer protections shouldn’t be tied into comprehensive immigration reform

Sen. Ben Cardin said Monday that protections for Dreamers shouldn’t be tied into comprehensive immigration reform.

“It was President Trump who put a date on that back of all the Dreamers. He created this crisis of March,” Mr. Cardin, Maryland Democrat, said on Fox News.

“It shouldn’t be used as hostage to get things done in immigration reform that should be comprehensive immigration reform,” he added.

Mr. Cardin said that he does not see Congress finishing comprehensive immigration reform by the March 5 deadline for Dreamers — those brought to the U.S. illegally as children — and instead said that issue should be taken up after the immediate issue is dealt with.

He did not say whether this would risk another shutdown in February, when the next spending deadline is due, but he did say these short-term funding bills are a bad way to govern.

“I can tell you this, these CRs are dangerous. We cannot defend out nation, we cannot allow our agencies to carry out their missions, on continuing resolutions,” he said.

The government did shut down after a temporary spending bill ran out in January and lawmakers could not come to an agreement. Democrats held out supporting the bill until protections for Dreamers were assured, but ended up agreeing to another continuing resolution, or CR, without a deal for Dreamers.