President Trump, during a surprise Friday morning interview on Fox News, said he would not sign the “moderate” immigration bill in Congress.
[Update: Trump comments throw immigration reform vote into doubt]
The statement is likely to confuse conservative lawmakers who have been encouraged to back compromise legislation by White House adviser Stephen Miller. House Speaker Paul Ryan is expected to bring the legislation up for a vote next week, along with a bill introduced by House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte.
“I’m looking at both of them,” Trump told “Fox and Friends,” adding that he “certainly wouldn’t sign the more moderate one.” He did not specify which Congressional bill he was referring to.
“I need a bill that has tremendous border security,” he said.
Republican leaders have been working to craft a compromise bill for several weeks that fulfills the president’s desire for enhanced border security and provides a path to permanent legal status or citizenship for young undocumented immigrants.
One of the bills emerged after House GOP leaders sought to prevent a discharge petition from reaching enough signatures to force a votes on a series of immigration bills, including a clean DACA bill that would have established a path to citizenship for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program without any border security concessions in return.
“We’re bringing legislation that’s been carefully crafted and negotiated to the floor,” Ryan told reporters on Thursday, adding that he couldn’t “guarantee passage.”
