Late yesterday it was reported that President Donald Trump has proposed giving 1.8 million young undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship in exchange for $25 billion for his long-promised wall and a host of other strict immigration reforms. In what the White House is characterising as a dramatic concession, the proposal would mean a pathway to citizenship for the roughly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who were covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (‘DACA’) programme when it was ended but it would also regularise those undocumented immigrants who meet the DACA criteria but failed to register for the programme and yet others who would be newly eligible under the proposal’s timeframe requirements. In total, it is anticipated that this would give legal status and a pathway to citizenship to approximately 1.8 million people.
In return, the President will request several hardline immigration reforms that Democrats may find hard to accept including a $25 billion investment in a trust for border infrastructure and technology, more funds for personnel, an end to family or “chain” migration beyond spouses and minor children, and the abolition of the diversity visa lottery. The White House is also looking to close “legal loopholes” that will allow it to deport more immigrants, specifically undocumented immigrants from countries that do not border the United States.
