Jennifer Huynh - Trump calls for border legislation using 'nuclear option'

Summary: Trump administration officials said Monday they're crafting a new legislative package aimed at closing immigration "loopholes," hours after the president called on Republicans in Congress to immediately pass a border bill using the "Nuclear Option if necessary" to muscle it through. "Border Patrol Agents (and ICE) are GREAT, but the weak Dem laws don't allow them to do their job. Act now Congress, our country is being stolen!" U.S. President Donald Trump wrote in a series of sometimes-misleading tweets, fired off after returning from a holiday weekend spent in Florida with several immigration hardliners. Trump also declared protections for so-called Dreamer immigrants "dead," claimed the U.S. has "no effective border laws" and warned Mexico to halt the passage of "caravans" of illegal immigrants or risk retribution. "They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!" he wrote.

Synthesis: Trump has been seething over immigration since realizing the major spending bill he signed last month barely funds the "big, beautiful" border wall he has promised his supporters. The $1.3 trillion funding package included $1.6 billion in border wall spending, but much of that money can be used only to repair existing segments, not to build new sections. Among the measures the administration is pursuing: ending special safeguards that prevent the immediate deportation of children arrested at the border and travelling alone. Under current law, unaccompanied children from countries that don't border the U.S. would be placed under the supervision of the Department of Health and Human Services and undergo often-lengthy deportation proceedings before an immigration judge instead of being deported. The administration is also pushing Congress to terminate a 1997 court settlement that requires the government to release children from custody to parents, adult relatives or other caretakers as their cases make their way through immigration court. Officials complain that many children never show up at their hearings. The proposals appear the same as those included on a White House immigration wish list that was released in October but failed to gain traction during negotiations over the border wall. Such proposals are likely to face opposition from moderate Republicans and Democrats going into the midterm elections. But Trump appears intent on ensuring the issues remain at the forefront of public conversation, even though the omnibus was widely seen as the last major legislation likely passed this year.

Source: https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/world/trump-calls-for-border-legislation-using-nuclear-option-1.3867423

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