House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have announced that President Donald Trump has agreed to support the legalization of DACA protections, The New York Times reports.
The Democratic leaders released a joint statement Wednesday night detailing a dinner meeting with Trump. “The discussion focused on DACA,” the statement read. “We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACAÂ into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides.”
Pelosi, Schumer on dinner with Pres. Trump: Both sides have “agreed” to immigration reform package and border security, “excluding the wall” pic.twitter.com/C7z36lwPTW
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 14, 2017
While this news also hints at an end to Trump’s mantra to “build the wall” between the U.S.-Mexican border, White House officials responded to the meeting in slightly less optimistic ways. According to CNN, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined the idea that excluding the wall could be an official decision, saying, “While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to.”
The White House also released a statement that threw in brief mentions of DACAÂ and border security alongside other important discussion topics. “President Donald Trump had a constructive working dinner with…Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, as well as administration officials to discuss policy and legislative priorities,” the statement read. “These topics included tax reform, border security, DACA, infrastructure and trade. This is a positive step toward the president’s strong commitment to bipartisan solutions for the issues most important to all Americans. The administration looks forward to continuing these conversations with leadership on both sides of the aisle.”
The Times reports that Trump has been “torn” about his decision to end the DACA program, which protects undocumented immigrants who were first brought into the United States as children. The president seems to want bipartisan agreements, which has reportedly surprised his fellow Republicans. According to Politico reporter Rachael Bade, Republican leaders were caught in the headlights when it came to Trump’s agreement with Pelosi and Schumer.
Senior House GOP source texts me: R leaders were blindsided AGAIN on this DACA deal. Add it to the list. Trump going rogue w/bipartisan
— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) September 14, 2017
The group’s meeting was a follow-up to last week’s discussion mainly regarding government budgeting. While it’s unclear how quickly these bipartisan agreements will fall into place, they’re hopefully a step in the right direction for this administration.