(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he envisions Congress passing legislation that will both strengthen U.S. border security and provide legal status for immigrants brought illegally to the country by their parents.
"Congress, I really believe, wants to take care of this situation," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One shortly after meeting with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders.
Trump said he'd like to see a bill that combines border security measures -- he didn't specify his proposed wall on the Mexican border -- and a “great DACA package where everyone is happy.” The legislation would ideally provide long-term legal status for immigrants who enrolled in an Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provided work permits and temporary protection from deportation, he said.
On Tuesday, Trump announced that he would wind down the program over the next six months, saying he didn't believe the DACA program would survive a lawsuit threatened by Republican attorneys general in nine states.
“I'd like to see a permanent deal and I think it's going to happen,” Trump said.
The president said there was wide consensus on Capitol Hill to address the issue, including among conservatives. He said Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer had also signaled their interest in a deal during their meeting earlier Wednesday, in which Trump took Democrats' offer to combine a three-month suspension of the statutory limit on the nation's borrowing authority with a government spending plan and hurricane aid.
“Chuck and Nancy want to see something happen, and so do I,” Trump said.
He said that “we'll see” what the administration could do if lawmakers don't strike a deal on DACA, but that he's confident an agreement would be reached. He said his caveat -- first suggested in a tweet late Tuesday, after he had called on Congress to act on the issue -- wasn't a “mixed signal.”
The move to end the existing program has provoked sharp backlash from politicians across the political spectrum and from the business community. And despite the president's confidence, immigration creates tough politics for many Republican lawmakers. Divisions have already surfaced between moderates and conservatives in the party in the wake of Trump's announcement.
To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net, Shannon Pettypiece in New York at spettypiece@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Mike Dorning
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