President Donald Trump envisions compromise immigration legislation where those who aren’t serious or violent criminals could stay in the US legally, hold a job and pay taxes, without having to worry about being deported, a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday.
The President is eager to pass an immigration bill, the official said, and is thinking about adding the topic to his speech tonight before a joint session of Congress. Either way, an immigration bill remains a desire for his first term. The topic of enforcing current immigration laws is already in the speech, the official said.
The President believes that the nation is now in a position where it can pass immigration legislation, the senior administration official said, with the need to have “a softening on both sides. There’s got to be a coming together.”
A path to citizenship for those in the country illegally would not be part of Trump’s vision for this deal, with the possible exception of “Dreamers” — those brought into the US illegally as children. Trump does not see the bill as something that would necessarily upset his base, since both sides would need to compromise.
“It has to be a negotiation,” the official said, arguing that the bill theoretically could make people on both the “far right” and “far left” happy.
“It could be good for everyone,” the senior administration official said. “People are exhausted” from debating the topic.
