Published 14:29 IST, July 11th 2020
Donald Trump working on merit-based immigration bill, will include 'road to citizenship'
The White House said that the US President Donald Trump is working on a ‘very big’ executive order in a bid to establish a ‘merit-based immigration system'.
The White House on July 10 reportedly said that the United States President Donald Trump is working on a ‘very big’ executive order in a bid to establish a ‘merit-based immigration system’. The White House statement comes after Trump in an interview with an international media outlet said that he is working on an immigration bill that will include ‘road to citizenship’ for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme.
While calling the action on the DACA a part of a ‘much bigger bill on immigration’, Trump said, “It's going to be a very big bill, a very good bill, and a merit-based bill and it will include DACA, and I think people are going to be very happy”.
He added, “One of the aspects of the bill is going to be DACA. We're going to have a road to citizenship”.
Soon after Trump’s interview, the White House said that the the ‘merit-based immigration system’ will protect the US workers. The officials also added that Trump has repeatedly said that he is willing to work with the Congress on a negotiated legislative solution to DACA, which could include citizenship along with strong border security and permanent merit-based reforms. However, the White House reportedly added that Democrats have continually refused the offers as they are opposed to anything other than totally open borders.
Aspects of the bill will make everyone ‘very happy’
The US President had also said that the opposition had broken the deal with him on the DACA. In the same interview, Trump said, “I had a deal with the Democrats and they broke the deal. The DACA could have been taken care of two years ago, but the Democrats broke the deal. All of a sudden they just broke it for no reason. Actually, they had a court case that slightly went their way, and they said, 'Oh, let's not talk about the deal anymore”.
Trump’s upcoming DACA bill also comes after the US Supreme Court allowed him to take in around 700,000 people. He also reportedly said that immigration bill will be based on the powers the court gave him. Further adding that the aspects of the bill will make everyone, including him and a lot of Republicans, ‘very happy’.
(Inputs: PTI)
Updated 14:29 IST, July 11th 2020