WASHINGTON — A day after President Donald Trump threatened to end protections for so-called Dreamers, he stunned all sides again Wednesday by endorsing a legislative fix that could put the young immigrants on the path to legal status.
Trump appeared eager to cut a deal, embracing a plan that has potential to appeal to Republicans and Democrats. It would combine beefed-up border security with more lasting deportation protections for the nearly 800,000 recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Contours of any emerging agreement remain a work in progress. And Trump, who has shown little hesitation about changing his mind, may do so again, especially if the anti-immigration wing of the Republican Party, led by former adviser Stephen K. Bannon, pressures Congress or Trump to reject any agreement that critics will surely label as amnesty.
But the dire outlook that loomed Tuesday over the young immigrants — sparking an eruption of street protests and an outpouring of public support — lifted somewhat.
“Congress, I really believe, wants to take care of this situation,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “I’d like to see something where we have good border security, and we have a great DACA transaction where everybody is happy and now they don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Absent from the president’s remarks was any suggestion of a more substantial immigration overhaul, such as a plan to limit legal migration supported by Bannon, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had promoted such reforms Tuesday when announcing plans to rescind DACA.
Neither was there any mention of border wall funding, an issue that Trump had threatened to shut down the government over just a few weeks earlier. Though wall funding could still be included in an eventual deal.
By seeming to move away from those ideas, Trump blindsided many in his own party and left others uncertain whether they can count on the president’s support, whether on immigration or any number of issues now facing Congress.
But it will also make it easier for Trump to craft an agreement on border security with Democrats, whose votes will be needed to overcome Republican opposition in Congress to protecting Dreamers.
Trump’s comments came after a White House meeting Wednesday morning to discuss the upcoming September agenda in Congress, which included must-pass funding measures and Hurricane Harvey relief.
Republicans left that meeting livid after Trump sided with Democrats to extend government funding and raise the nation’s debt ceiling for only three months. The move created the opening Democrats were seeking for swift action on immigration, and Republicans complained it increased their rivals’ negotiating leverage.