President Trump is reportedly open to a short-term fix for “Dreamers” in a government funding package in exchange for money for his proposed border wall.
GOP officials told The Washington Post that the White House has communicated with Republican congressional leadership about the shift in Trump’s position.
One official told the Post that one possible deal would be a three-year extension of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections in exchange for three years of funding for the wall. Trump canceled the Obama-era program in September, giving Congress a six-month deadline to pass legislation. The deadline passed earlier this month.
The president had previously insisted on broader “pillars” in any legislation that would include protections for young immigrants with deferred deportation under DACA, which he rescinded last year, along with border security funding and cuts to legal immigration.
Now, according to the Post, the president is hoping to speed up the border wall process by agreeing to a short-term deal.
A short-term fix for DACA was blocked in the Senate twice in the past week.
Senate Democrats offered border wall funding to Trump in an immigration deal earlier this year, but it remains to be seen whether they would agree to wall funding for an extension of DACA.
Congress is rushing to pass an omnibus package by March 23 to avoid another government shutdown.
Updated at 12:38 p.m.