- President Donald Trump's immigration plan was a big focus of the State of the Union on Tuesday.
- The plan includes a pathway to citizenship for nearly 1.8 million immigrants that are either enrolled in or qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
- The plan also includes $25 billion for funding of a proposed wall along the Mexican border and changes to legal immigration programs.
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Here's the 4-part immigration plan Trump outlined during the State of the Union
Trump's immigration plan was a large focus of his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, outlining a deal for Dreamers and a tighter legal immigration policy.
President Donald Trump used the State of the Union as a platform to wade into a the largest policy fight facing Congress: immigration.
During the speech, the president touted a recently released four-point plan that addresses immigration both legal and illegal.
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The proposal, released Thursday, includes a codification of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects from deportation nearly 800,000 unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the US as minors.
The plan would give these recipients, as well as immigrants who qualify but do not participate in the program, a pathway to citizenship over a 10 to 12 year period that includes "
DACA codification has been a central demand from Democrats for any immigration deal, since the program is set to expire on March 5. Trump announced in September that he would end the program, but gave Congress six months to settle the issue through legislation.
But in a nod to the most conservative immigration hawks in the Republican Party, the plan proposes changes to legal immigration programs, as well as $25 billion in funding for a wall along the Mexican border.
The major aspects of the deal include:
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- the family reunification policy
- diversity visa lottery program
- without any regard for skill, merit, or the safety of our people," the lottery does have education and/or work requirements as well as a
- not from countries bordering
The plan already drew criticism from many Democrats, saying the changes to legal immigration programs like the family reunification policy are outside the scope of the current DACA debate in Congress.
Even some Republican have cautioned against such a wide-ranging set of ideas, saying to ensure bipartisan support any plan should focus on border security and DACA for now.
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