Trump's U.S. Citizenship for DACA Illegal Aliens Matches Other Failed Amnesties

A plan by President Trump’s administration to give 1.8 million illegal aliens enrolled and eligible for the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program a pathway to U.S. citizenship matches up with previous amnesty bills that have failed.

In the week that new polling from Harvard-Harris revealed bombshell support for his legal immigration-cutting, merit-based, and pro-American worker initiative on immigration, rather than touting the widespread support for his “America First” ideals, Trump explained why a pathway to U.S. citizenship for DACA illegal aliens would be beneficial.

When asked about citizenship for DACA illegal aliens, Trump said: “We’re going to morph into it, it’s going to happen. Over a period of 10 to 12 years, somebody does a great job, they’ve worked hard.”

“It’s a nice thing to have the [citizenship] incentive of after a period of years, being able to become a citizen,” Trump continued.

On Thursday, senior adviser Stephen Miller revealed a few of the details from the White House’s expansive amnesty. It’s most prominent provision: Giving a pathway to citizenship to 1.8 million illegal aliens after a 10 to 12 year period.

The White House expansive amnesty plan is hardly different from previous amnesties, one of which failed miserably under Obama and another that the White House shot down this week.

For example, the “Gang of Eight” amnesty plan in 2013, which practically destroyed all conservative support for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in his presidential aspirations, would have given the entire illegal alien population of about 12 to 30 million illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship as early as five years after being granted amnesty.

Likewise, the current “Gang of Six” amnesty plan sitting in the Senate, pushed prominently by Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Dick Durbin (D-IL), would begin giving at least 3.5 million illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship as early as ten years after getting amnesty.

On the other hand, the White House-backed House immigration plan, authored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), would remain in line with Trump’s concession of only giving legal status to DACA-enrolled illegal aliens with no special path to citizenship.

In exchange for the amnesty solely for DACA-enrolled illegal aliens, the Goodlatte bill implements mandatory E-Verify to ban employers from hiring illegal aliens over Americans, major reductions to legal immigration levels, and full funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as a slew of other reforms that would help raise the wages of America’s working and middle class.