ACLU Comment on White House Immigration Meeting

WASHINGTON — President Trump and members of Congress met today on immigration.

Lorella Praeli, director of immigration policy and campaigns at the American Civil Liberties Union, had this reaction:

“This moment is not — and should not be — about a comprehensive immigration reform debate to overhaul the entire immigration system. Lawmakers should be focused on passing the Dream Act and resolving the urgent crisis facing Dreamers, which is a crisis of the Trump administration’s own making. More than 15,000 DACA recipients already have lost status, with hundreds of thousands more facing the loss of work permits and deportation protections in the coming weeks.

“President Trump seemed to agree on a permanent solution for undocumented immigrant youth as the priority during today’s meeting, acknowledging that broader immigration reforms should be deferred to a phase two negotiation down the road. It’s now up to responsible lawmakers of both parties to reject further attempts by the nativist voices to derail policy negotiations with unfounded border alarmism and by adding unrelated, ideologically-driven poison pills to a narrowly-tailored deal.

“Resolving the urgent crisis facing Dreamers seems more possible after today’s meeting, but it’s not a foregone conclusion yet. Members of Congress should now work together to pass the bipartisan Dream Act.”