White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Tuesday that many people eligible who were eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program may have chosen not to sign up because they are “too lazy to get off their ass.”
Kelly made the remark on Capitol Hill days ahead of Congress’ first government funding deadline since last month’s partial government shutdown, which centered on extending the program.
President Trump said he will support making the program permanent only if lawmakers agree to border wall funding and restrictions on legal immigration.
Kelly, speaking to reporters, addressed why Trump would support a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million people, rather than the smaller subset currently protected by DACA.
“There are 690,000 official DACA registrants and the president sent over what amounts to be two-and-a-half times that number, to 1.8 million,” Kelly said, reported Erica Werner of the Washington Post. “The difference between 690 [thousand] and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn’t sign up.” – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) admitted to CNN on Monday that it was a “mistake” to try to attach a fix for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program onto the funding legislation for the government, which ultimately led to a three-day shutdown.
Congress is once again facing the possibility of the government shutting down, as the continuing resolution that was passed in January is set to expire at the end of the week.
When asked if he was willing to support another continuing resolution, as opposed to allowing the government to shut down again, Connolly said he would vote to keep the government open. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]Senior Senate Democrat Dick Durbin (IL) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that legislators are unlikely to reach a deal on the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) before the president’s March deadline, but that Democrats will not force a second government shutdown over the impasse.
“There is not likely to be a DACA deal, though we’re working every single day on telephone calls and person-to-person to try to reach this bipartisan agreement,” Durbin told host Jake Tapper. “I don’t see a government shutdown coming.”
This leaves Democrats with few options — and no leverage — going into the final weeks of negotiations over an immigration deal that they were, by all accounts, poised to ink with the president. But earlier in January, the deal broke down, reportedly over an included stipulation that would have given indefinite amnesty to parents of DACA recipients even though those parents knowingly violated U.S. immigration law. – READ MORE
[contentcards url=”http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/john-kelly-some-daca-eligible-immigrants-were-too-lazy-to-get-off-their-ass/article/2648272″ target=”_blank”]