Donald Trump will oppose a Republican immigration proposal that would protect young undocumented migrants and end the controversial policy of separating families at the southern border.
That could spell trouble for GOP leaders in Congress as they seek to build support for the plan, which has been billed as a compromise to satisfy moderates and hardliners on issue that has split the party for decades.
The House speaker, Paul Ryan, has said he will allow votes next week on two immigration measures: the compromise plan and a hardline bill backed by a bloc of conservatives.
Trump’s opposition may come as surprise to the House Republican leadership, who have said they have the president’s support. Ryan, who earlier this week said he was working “hand in glove” with the administration, has said he will allow votes next week on two immigration measures: the compromise plan and a hardline bill backed by a bloc of conservatives.
“I’m looking at both of them,” Trump told Fox & Friends in an interview on the North Lawn of the White House on Friday morning. “I certainly wouldn’t sign the more moderate one.”
Weeks of negotiations among House Republicans have coincided with painful stories about children being separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border, the result of the administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration enforcement policy.
“I hate the children being taken away,” Trump told reporters after his interview with Fox. But he again blamed his administration’s policy of forcibly separating migrant children from parents on Democrats, saying “we can change it tonight”.
“That’s the law and that’s what the Democrats gave us,” he said, adding a claim that the opposition party would not negotiate on immigration because they were “afraid of security for our country”.
Trump has repeatedly eschewed responsibility for his own policy, blaming the separations on a “horrible law” he claims was passed by Democrats. There is no such law that requires the government to separate children from their parents.
The increasing number of families separated at the border is largely the result of the “zero tolerance” policy, announced by Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, in which migrants entering the US illegally are referred for criminal prosecution.
Previously, the US allowed children to remain with their parents by releasing families while they awaited civil deportation proceedings. Now the administration releases the children to relatives or foster care.
The moderate Republican draft proposal on immigration would keep families together by clarifying a 1997 court ruling that prevents undocumented children from being held in custody for long periods.
The change could mean, however, that the administration instead detains families together, a controversial practice which is opposed by Democrats.
The measure would also provide protections for young undocumented migrants known as Dreamers, allocate billions of dollars for the construction of wall along the border and impose new restrictions on legal immigration.