Senate preps for immigration debate while Trump lobs accusations


The Senate is preparing for an open debate on immigration Monday, a process complicated by the uncertainty of President Trump's position on the subject. Though Trump's campaign rhetoric favored hard-line policy, most vividly the border wall proposal, in office he has both promised to sign any "bill of love" Congress creates and rejected multiple congressional proposals.
The White House said Saturday the administration is working with Senate allies on a plan to approve 4 million stalled green card applications while making a path to citizenship for 1.8 million people illegally brought to the U.S. as children. These changes "would effectively make up for the cuts in other immigration categories for about 13 years," an unnamed White House official told the Los Angeles Times. So far, the compromise is unpopular among immigration activists at both ends of the spectrum.
About 800,000 of the 1.8 million who arrived in America as kids were previously protected from deportation by the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In a tweet Saturday, Trump accused Democrats of using DACA recipients for political gain:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A 2010 bill, the DREAM Act, similar to then-President Obama's 2012 DACA executive order, would have passed both houses of Congress, but it did not have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
July 19 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include a Medicaid time bomb, and Donald Trump's fixation with the Fed's Jerome Powell
-
5 hilariously cutting cartoons about the Department of Education
Cartoons Artists take on being rotten to the core, budget cuts, and more
-
Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) recipe
The Week Recommends German dish is fresh, creamy and an ideal summer meal
-
President diagnosed with 'chronic venous insufficiency'
Speed Read The vein disorder has given Trump swollen ankles and visible bruising on his hands
-
'Bawdy' Trump letter supercharges Epstein scandal
Speed Read The Wall Street Journal published details of Trump's alleged birthday letter to Epstein
-
Fed chair Powell in Trump's firing line
Speed Read The president considers removing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
-
Trump trashes supporters over Epstein files
speed read The president lashed out on social media following criticism of his administration's Jeffrey Epstein investigation
-
Judge nixes wiping medical debt from credit checks
Speed Read Medical debt can now be included in credit reports
-
Grijalva wins Democratic special primary for Arizona
Speed Read She will go up against Republican nominee Daniel Butierez to fill the US House seat her father held until his death earlier this year
-
US inflation jumps as Trump tariffs 'bite'
Speed Read Consumer prices are climbing and the inflation rate rose to its highest level in four months
-
SCOTUS greenlights mass DOE firings
Speed Read The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to further shrink the Education Department