Trump administration sends immigration policy wish list to Congress

The Trump administration has sent an immigration policy wish list to Congress that threatens to derail efforts to protect hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from being deported.

The Trump administration wants tougher immigration and border security measures, crackdowns on sanctuary cities, green card restrictions and funding for the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall.

The Trump administration has asked lawmakers to include tough border security and immigration enforcement measures in any deal to replace the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that the administration is ending. Those measures include provisions to make it harder for unaccompanied minors to enter the country illegally, money for the President's border wall and cuts to legal immigration, the CNN reported.

"These priorities are essential to mitigate the legal and economic consequences of any grant of status to DACA recipients," White House legislative director Marc Short said .

Short further said,"They fulfill the President's promise to advance immigration reform that puts the need of American workers first."

The demands were denounced by Democratic leaders in Congress who had hoped to forge a deal with President Trump to protect younger immigrants, known as "dreamers," who were brought to the United States illegally as children, Media reports.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that it shows Trump "can't be serious" about reaching a deal if they start with proposals that are "anathema" to immigrants and Democrats.

President Trump had announced his plans to phase out the DACA program, which protects young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children, at the beginning of last month, but gave Congress a six-month window in which to act to make the program permanent.

Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals had provided two-year work permits to the dreamers that Trump has called "unconstitutional."

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which has protected nearly 800,000 young adult unauthorized immigrants from deportation and allowed them to work legally since 2012.

While the White House stopped short of issuing a veto threat over the principles, it said it would still "expect Congress to include all" of them in a deal.

The White House also stressed it believes the President is making a "good faith effort" at bipartisan compromise -- noting that it sent the immigration principles to both Democratic and Republican leadership of Congress and relevant committees.