Once again it looks like Trump and his officials are not on the same page when it comes to DACA, at least behind the scenes:
WASHINGTON TIMES – Top administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that illegal immigrant Dreamers should be granted a full pathway to citizenship, seemingly contradicting President Trump who said last month that citizenship wasn’t on the table.
With just two days to go before the final deadline for Dreamers to renew protections under the Obama-era deportation amnesty program known as DACA, officials were on Capitol Hill to defend their handling of the situation.
They said that with the exception of Puerto Ricans affected by hurricanes, the Oct. 5 renewal deadline will remain in place, saying it’s up to Congress to figure out some more permanent protections.
Michael Dougherty, assistance Homeland Security secretary for strategy and policy, said the nearly 700,000 Dreamers currently protected by DACA have earned it.
“They’re a benefit to the country, as are many immigrants coming in,” he said. “They are a valuable contribution to our society. We need to regularize their status through some legal means.”
Pressed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, about whether that status should stop short of citizenship, Mr. Dougherty said citizenship has to be available to Dreamers.
“Creating second-class citizens or people who are never able to naturalize is not a good model,” he said. He said Mr. Trump shares that view.
This contradicts Trump, as the Times point out:
But just last month Mr. Trump, explaining what he was looking for in a deal from Congress, seemed to rule out citizenship rights.
“We’re not looking at citizenship. We’re not looking at amnesty. We’re looking at allowing people to stay here,” Mr. Trump said after meeting with top Democratic leaders to talk about a path forward.
So either Trump is onboard with citizenship or he isn’t. I’m guessing he is onboard with it and so is much of the Congress. I predicted earlier this year that Congress would make citizenship available to the Dreamer bunch for the very second-class citizen reason this Trump admin official gave to Congress. Of course it wasn’t hard to predict knowing the RINO tendencies of Republicans, especially when it comes to protecting their jobs.