President Trump said Tuesday that he would sign an executive order to serve beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and emphasize merit-based education.
“We will deal with DACA,” Trump said at a briefing in Rose Garden. “I am going to sign an immigration action, a great merit-based immigration action.”
Trump added that Joe Biden would “vastly expand” low-skilled immigration: “I like skills, I like merits.”
The president said the order would come “very soon.”
“Even conservative Republicans want to see something happen with DACA,” said Trump. “The Democrats had their chance for three years.”
“They always rejected it,” he said, adding that Democrats used the debate on newcomers as a “political tool.”
Trump said last Friday that he would sign an executive order that would include a “path to citizenship” for DACA beneficiaries.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LIMITS THE RULE OF FOREIGN STUDENTS IN THE MIDDLE OF SCHOOL PRESSURE
“I am going to make a great executive order, I have the power to do it as president, and I am going to make DACA a part of it,” Trump said in an interview with Telemundo presenter José Díaz-Balart.
“But we will put it on and we will probably take it off. We are solving the legal complexities right now, “Trump added, but did not elaborate on what he meant.
Trump, who has vowed to end DACA since he was on the campaign trail in 2015 when he called the program an “illegal executive order,” said the bill would not only be temporary relief, but would be much more credit. large. invoice based.
DACA currently serves as protection for young immigrants who were illegally brought into the United States as children, also known as Dreamers, to enable them to study legally, work, and stay in the United States without fear of deportation.
While it is unclear whether the president can give DACA beneficiaries a path to citizenship through executive powers, he said it is his intention last week.
“One of the aspects of the bill will be DACA. We are going to have a path to citizenship, ”Trump told Daiz-Balart.
Trump added that “one of the aspects of the bill that he will be very happy with and that many people, including me and many Republicans by the way, will be DACA.”
TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO HOLD CHINA RESPONSIBLE FOR ACTIONS AGAINST HONG KONG
Trump’s announcement comes just weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that 5-4 would reject Trump’s attempt to dismantle the program for young immigrants. The Court ruled that the administration had failed to provide adequate legal justification to end the program established under President Obama in 2012.
Judd Deere, special assistant to the president, told Fox News on Friday that the president is willing to work with lawmakers on merit-based immigration.
“Additionally, the president has long said he is willing to work with Congress on a negotiated legislative solution for DACA, one that could include citizenship, along with strong border security and permanent merit-based reforms,” added Deere. .
President Trump and a bipartisan group of senators came to a standstill in January 2018 after a compromise immigration bill was introduced that would protect DACA recipients. But Trump would disagree with the measure because it did not include a provision for the U.S.-Mexico border wall, which eventually led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Trump filed his appeal with the Supreme Court in January 2018 after a federal judge blocked the president’s attempt to rescind DACA.
Then, the Supreme Court began oral arguments for the case in November 2019, prompting Trump to tweet: “Many of the people in DACA, who are no longer very young, are far from angels. “Some are very tough and hardened criminals.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“If the Supreme Court remedies are overturned, a deal will be made with the Democrats to stay.”
Fox News’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.