Report: Lindsey Graham Sees DACA Replacement as ‘Down Payment’ for Further Amnesty

Legalizing and giving a pathway to United States citizenship to the nearly 800,000 illegal aliens enrolled in an Obama-created temporary amnesty program would potentially be just the first step in attempting to give amnesty to the millions of other illegal aliens living in the U.S., Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has admitted.

In an interview with The Hill, Graham disclosed that amnesty for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program – which Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced would be ended by March 2018 – is possibly only the beginning stage for a larger amnesty for the estimated 12 to 30 million illegal aliens in the U.S.

The report states:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) added a DACA fix and border security would be a “good marriage.”

“So I think there’s a deal there that we don’t do comprehensive immigration reform, but you make a down payment on dealing with the 11 million by starting with the ‘Dreamers.’ You make a down payment on fixing the causes of illegal immigration by plugging some loopholes,” Graham said.

He floated that lawmakers could do a “round two” of immigration legislation that would tackle immigration visas, e-verify and dealing with parents of “Dreamers” and agricultural workers.

Graham has teamed up with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) to push a widespread amnesty, known as the DREAM Act, for DACA recipients and illegal aliens who are eligible for the program, admitting that they would give into President Trump’s small demand for border security funding if it meant passing the massive amnesty plan.

“We’re trying to see if there’s a path in the Senate where we might be able to achieve the DREAM Act and border security in the right way,” Durbin said told The Hill.

“I sort of know what they want. And we’ll see,” Graham said in reference to what the Trump administration would be willing to cave on in order to pass the amnesty. “What they’re telling me they want, which will remain between me and them, is pretty reasonable. We’ll see if we can get there.”

Under the DREAM Act, nearly 3.3 million illegal aliens would be able to obtain permanent amnesty, creating a chain migration of foreign nationals to the U.S. that could tick upwards of 19 million, Breitbart News reported.

As Breitbart News also reported, Republicans in the House and Senate have seemingly ignored Trump’s list of popular pro-American immigration priorities, instead attempting to craft multiple amnesty plans for illegal aliens.