800,000 Hostages

Let’s get it straight about who “Dreamers” are. They’re people who were born outside the U.S. who were brought here while they were minors in violation of U.S. immigration laws.

Most of them know no other country since they were too young to remember; some go to school, some serve in the military, some work, some raise families of their own; all of them pay taxes (if eligible), all of them have spotless criminal records.

So they’re a lot more perfect than I am (I told you about that night with Micky Mantle, Billy Martin and the Armadillo didn’t I? That’s why I’m not allowed in Texas anymore.).

Well it seems that Trump and his Disministration don’t want to deport them so much as they want to use them as hostages.

This is what the White House wants in exchange for saving Dreamers from deportation
By Anita Kumar, McClatchy
September 26, 2017

The plan was designed by Stephen Miller, Trump’s senior policy adviser who is responsible for some of his most contentious policies, including writing a ban on travel to the United States from some Muslim-majority countries, and does not reflect the views of Trump or many of his other top aides, according to a multiple people familiar with situation.

“The president himself said he doesn’t want to ‘throw out good, educated and accomplished young people’ and wants a Dream Act paired with increased border security, but Stephen Miller’s agenda to try to attach 50 percent cuts to legal immigration and other provisions completely undermines the president’s desire and chances for any deal,” said a political operative who works closely with congressional Republicans.

The White House document includes several proposals already introduced in standalone bills — eliminating protections for unaccompanied children who are in the country illegally; restricting eligibility for asylum, humanitarian parole and abused or abandoned foreign children; raising fees for visas; reducing legal immigration by placing people with certain skills at the front of the line; hiring thousands more immigration officers, prosecutors and judges; and implementing E-verify, an online system that allows businesses to check immigration status. In some cases, the talking points cited the specific bill numbers.

The document was written after a months-long internal battle at the White House in which some of Trump’s top aides have been pushing him to protect Dreamers and use the issue as a bargaining chip for a larger immigration deal.

Trump, who pledged to build a wall on the southern border during a campaign largely built around immigration, initially insisted they made no deal but later acknowledged that one was made and that the “wall will come later.”

A House Democratic leadership aide said Tuesday that the talking points document will not go anywhere. “This draft is a complete nonstarter,” the aide said. “Not a serious proposal. Does not reflect the Pelosi/Schumer agreement with the President whatsoever.”

Rep. Mark Meadows, a Republican from North Carolina who chairs the Freedom caucus, said Tuesday he had not seen the document.

But the proposal closely mirrors what several groups have been pushing the administration to do for months.

Robert Law, government relations director for Federation for American Immigration Reform, said his group sent the White House recommendations last week that included e-verify, border enforcement, biometric entry-exit screening system and interior enforcement.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies who has been pushing similar proposals for years, said any deal must include other provisions beyond border security. “Anything short of that would suggest a lack of success,” he said.