Republican senators met on Thursday with President Donald Trump to discuss young, undocumented immigrants, emerging from the talks confident that they could strike a deal by the end of the month.
Following the Republican-only meeting, President Trump invited lawmakers from both parties to the White House next week to discuss the so-called “Dreamers.” According to some senators, the meeting will take place next Tuesday.
“Next week the president is inviting a bipartisan group of senators to the White House to discuss the next steps on responsible immigration reform,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.
Bipartisan meetings have been taking place for the past four months in order to craft legislation to protect about 700,000 Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as children.
“I think we’re narrowing the differences,” Senator John Cornyn said.
However, despite the progress made, some difficulties still remain. GOP senators continue pushing for reigning in “chain migration” which puts in danger Dreamers’ parents living in the U.S. illegally. Also, regardless of what deal is struck, the legislation is certain to face opposition by hard-liners in the House.
Some of them have been making attempts to attach additional money for immigration enforcement throughout the country to the Dreamer legislation, leaving some to fear that it could be used to go after the relatives of the young immigrants.
Senator Thom Tillis, one of the Republican senators who met with Trump on Thursday, returned to Capitol Hill saying that there was a strong possibility for a bill to be brought to the Senate floor later this month.
“I think so. I think if people get serious about it and start focusing and get in the room together. … I think we’ll see progress next week,” he said.
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