White House rejects DACA-for-wall funding bill that excludes key immigration fixes

The White House rejected Wednesday a bi-partisan immigration reform bill that, while it extends DACA and includes some border wall funding, fails to fix the chain migration and visa lottery problems with the current immigration system.

One proposal by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), called the three-for-three deal, would extend DACA protections for three years in exchange for three years of border security funding, including the wall.

White House Deputy Principal Press Secretary Raj Shah said that the president has rejected the proposal.

“The White House opposes a so-called three for three deal,” Shah told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

President Trump has insisted that any deal on DACA must include funding for the wall, the end of chain migration and termination of the visa lottery program. The White House offered to give legal protections to 1.8 million illegal aliens in exchange for his required provisions which was rebuffed by Conservative Republicans and the Democrats.

“If Congress does a temporary patch once, it will do it 20 times again. My concern is for the DACA kids that are in my state of Oklahoma … they are looking for an actual solution,” Sen. James Lankford (OK) said.

Other proposals include one from Sens. John Thune (SD), Rob Portman (OH) and Jerry Moran (KS) that would protect current DACA recipients in exchange for a $25 billion border security trust fund.

House Republicans demand that DACA be addressed in a stand-alone bill, but it is likely that Democrats will force a shutdown showdown by pushing to have it included in a spending bill that must be passed by March 23rd.