President Donald Trump is expected to deliver a speech regarding immigration Thursday, focusing on his plan for reform and solving the southern border crisis, White House officials said.
The first part of the proposal addresses legal immigration by limiting the number of low-skilled migrants who enter the U.S. based on family ties and replacing them with high-skilled workers. The number of migrants entering the country would be left roughly unchanged. The second part of the proposal calls for more border walls and updated ports of entry.
“[Kushner is] in his own little world,” a person familiar with the meeting told The Washington Post. “He didn’t give many details about what was in [his plan] … And there were a number of instances where people had to step in and answer questions because he couldn’t.”
The first phase, according to those involved in the immigration talks, is to build GOP support for the plan.
“I don’t think it’s designed to get Democratic support as much as it is to unify the Republican Party around border security,” Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham stated after the meeting.
Graham believes once Republicans rally around a bill that bolsters border security and transitions the U.S. to a more merit-based immigration system, the GOP could then strike a deal with Democrats regarding the millions of illegal aliens already living in the country.
“I am willing to sit down with Democrats to find a way to address the underlying problem in Central America. I’m willing to put other immigration ideas on the table to marry up with this,” Graham said Wednesday about a possible GOP-Democratic compromise.
Republican lawmakers could eventually coalesce around a plan that encompasses Graham’s and Trump’s proposals. However, many remain skeptical that major immigration reform—something that has befuddled Congress for years—has a chance of passing anytime soon.
The president’s speech Thursday will be held in the Rose Garden.
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