Is Trump Considering Amnesty?

In a meeting with establishment politicians from the Problem Solvers Caucus and the Blue Dog Coalition, President Trump signaled a full-fledged cave on the issue of giving amnesty to nearly 800,000 illegal aliens currently protected by an Obama-created executive immigration program.

Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the ultimate end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, under which  hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens were given work permits and temporary protected status, Trump has remained unclear on whether he would stick to his anti-amnesty campaign promises or cave to the political establishment.

At his White House meeting with moderates, according to The Hill, Trump is set to choose a legislative deal that quickly legalizes the nearly 800,000 illegal aliens on DACA, without getting any pro-American immigration reforms in return:

Indeed, said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), the president is already getting impatient.

“He says, ‘Oh, DACA, we want to move on this quick, we don’t want to wait six months,’” Cuellar said after the meeting. “He said, ‘It’s already been six days and nothing’s happened.’”

Cuellar said Trump didn’t propose a timeline, but voiced concerns that waiting until the March 5 deadline grows closer would only put a spotlight on the issue and make it more difficult for Congress to act. The president, Cuellar said, wants to move “when people are not expecting it.”

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“He said, ‘We don’t have to tie a wall to this. We can put a wall [in another bill],’” Cuellar said, emphasizing that other border enforcement measures would likely be included.

Although Trump is looking at pushing through a clean amnesty bill for DACA recipients, he did mention during the meeting, according to Cuellar, the possibility of passing Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) pro-American worker “RAISE Act,” which cuts legal immigration in half, in exchange for amnesty.

Trump’s cave to DACA amnesty comes just a day after the White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short said the administration would look at exchanging amnesty for tax cuts. Short, as Breitbart News reported, is a former executive with the pro-mass immigration billionaires, the Koch brothers.

Additionally, Short led an effort in 2016 inside the Koch organization to derail Trump, opposing him for his “America First” agenda. Although Short’s anti-Trump operation never came to fruition, he went on to join Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) unsuccessful presidential campaign.

House Speaker Paul Ryan most recently would not rule out a plan to give amnesty to the 800,000 DACA recipients, as Breitbart News reported.

Immigration patriots, who want to see an end to illegal immigration and major cuts to legal immigration to relieve American workers, recently told Breitbart News that any immigration deal on DACA that includes amnesty would be an “outrageous selling out of the [Trump] base.”

NumbersUSA President Roy Beck blasted Short’s comments regarding a deal in which amnesty is given to DACA recipients in exchange for tax cuts or mere border wall funding.

“Short’s compassion seems entirely for foreign citizens here illegally with not a nod for struggling American workers,” Beck said.

Should DACA recipients receive amnesty, Center for Immigration Studies Director Mark Krikorian has warned that it will have two impacts on American communities: A surge in illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border and a surge in legal immigration, as newly-amnestied DACA recipients would be able to bring their relatives to the U.S., potentially peaking at two to four million.

DACA recipients currently hold upwards of 700,000 U.S. jobs. An ultimate end to the program – with DACA recipients not getting amnesty –would result in a 700,000 job stimulus for American workers. This would amount to nearly 30,000 new U.S. job openings for American workers every month once the program is officially phased out.

Although screening for DACA was previously touted as being sufficient in keeping criminals out, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revealed that more than 2,100 recipients had their status revoked for being criminals or gang members.