Donald Trump: ‘Ready and willing’ to preserve DACA

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was “ready, willing and able” to pass legislation preserving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but faulted Democrats for not agreeing to his conditions to save the program.

Also, a group of Senate Democrats urged the Department of Homeland Security to expedite renewal applications for thousands of young immigrants protected under DACA. The Obama-era program provides temporary legal status to immigrants who were brought to the United States as minors.

Speaking at the Latino Coalition Legislative Summit, Trump said: “This is our time. This is our moment. Go get DACA. Go push those Democrats. I’m telling you, it’s close. So this is a moment for DACA, for all of us.”

Trump, who ordered the phaseout of DACA last year, has balked at supporting a series of bipartisan Senate proposals to restore the program that shields some 800,000 young immigrants from deportation.

Trump says the Senate measures do not meet his demands for $20 billion for a southern border wall, as well as the elimination of both the diversity-based visa lottery program and family reunification visas in favor of merit-based programs.

DACA was set to expire Monday, but it got a reprieve last month after a federal court judge ordered the program be upheld as various federal court challenges wend their way through the court system.

“We’re trying to have a DACA victory for everyone,” Trump said Wednesday.

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In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Wednesday, a group of five Senate Democrats called on her to expedite the renewal of DACA applications for participants already enrolled in the program. They must renew their DACA status every two years to work and study in the country legally.

“DACA recipients are at risk of losing their jobs and deportation if their status expires,” wrote the lawmakers, including Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.