President Donald Trump repeated that he wanted to sign a deal on DACA, urging Congress to send him a bill to make it happen.
“Congress, I really believe, wants to take care of this situation,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “I really believe it — even very conservative members of Congress.”
He appeared willing to negotiate with Republicans and Democrats on a DACA solution — even willing to add border security funding to help sell the measure to offer amnesty to DACA recipients.
“I’d like to see something where we have good border security, and we have a great DACA transaction where everybody is happy and now they don’t have to worry about it anymore,” he said.
Trump made his comments to reporters on Air Force One after meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer at the White House.
He said his administration ended DACA because it wasn’t legal and would have failed to sustain a court challenge.
“I’d like to see a permanent deal, and I think it’s going to happen,” he said, pointing to momentum on the issue from both Republicans and Democrats. “I really believe that Congress is going to work very hard on the DACA agreement and come up with something.”
The president remained vague on what he would do if Congress did not send him legislation to legalize DACA recipients, signaling on Twitter on Tuesday night that he would “revisit the issue” if they failed.
“I have a feeling that’s not going to be necessary,” he said on Wednesday.