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GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham rips into White House for Trump's change on immigration deal
In Sen. Graham's view, Trump reneged on the bipartisan immigration deal primarily due to the machinations of Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's senior adviser for policy. Miller's views on immigration are identical to the far Alt-right.
Related: Stephen Miller to Blame for Trump's Lack of Immigration, DACA Reform, Republicans Say
By Jacob Pramuk
January 19, 2018
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) and Donald Trump
Sen. Lindsey Graham saw a distinct change in President Donald Trump's views on immigration legislation last week — and he pinned it on one White House aide in particular on Friday. On Jan. 9, Trump told lawmakers to seek a bipartisan solution on immigration and signaled that he would sign whatever they put in front of him. Two days later, he flatly rejected a plan brought to him by Graham, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and others, helping to set back talks on avoiding a government shutdown that will happen at midnight if Congress cannot reach a deal. Graham, who said he will not support a temporary funding bill passed by the House when the Senate takes it up Friday, sees Trump policy advisor Stephen Miller as part of the problem. "The Stephen Miller approach to immigration has no viability. Tuesday, the president was in a good place. He was the president of all of us," Graham told MSNBC on Friday. "He spoke compassionately about immigration, tough on security, wanted bipartisanship. Two days later, there was a major change."
Some senators thought the bipartisan proposal presented to Trump met the president's immigration demands. It would have protected hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants while boosting border security measures and reforming extended family migration and the visa "lottery" system. It also would have given the immigrants shielded by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which Trump ended, an eventual pathway to citizenship. Graham suggested that Miller, an immigration hardliner, rejected the outlines of the bipartisan deal. He also said that the approach of his colleague Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., "has no viability" in bipartisan talks. Graham told MSNBC that voting for the House bill, which would keep the government funded through Feb. 16, would extend "chaos."
In Sen. Graham's view, Trump reneged on the bipartisan immigration deal primarily due to the machinations of Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's senior adviser for policy. Miller's views on immigration are identical to the far Alt-right.
Related: Stephen Miller to Blame for Trump's Lack of Immigration, DACA Reform, Republicans Say