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Trump on family separation at border: Obama separated the children

President Trump was asked about the practice of separating migrant families at the border with Mexico during a visit with the Egyptian president on April 9, 2019. He pointed to the actions of former President Obama. By

President Donald Trumps choice of Stephen Miller to lead on immigration sets up a potential policy clash with one of the most influential people in the White House, the presidents son-in-law.

The move comes as Trump, focused on challenges in securing the border, sent Jared Kushner back to the drawing board to develop new ideas on immigration reform after being unsatisfied with the results of an initial proposal for a legal immigration framework, according to two sources familiar with the talks.

Its the latest power shift in just a few months after Kushner, who is married to Trumps daughter Ivanka, had emerged as the new figurehead trying to come up with a plan to fix the legal immigration system following his success on criminal justice legislation.

The clock is ticking on all this stuff, said a former Trump official who remains in contact with people inside the White House. There is no way that Stephen can continue to push a very hard right restrictionist policy and for Jared to be pushing a middle-of-the-road, slightly left of center policy, and something doesnt come in conflict.

The tension comes as the president purges his top homeland security officials and promises to take a tougher approach on the border with Mexico in the build up to the 2020 campaign season.

We have the worst laws of any country anywhere in the world, whether its catch and release or any one of them, Trump said Tuesday. I mean, I could name -- I could sit here and name them, but if you got rid of catch and release, chain migration, visa lottery -- you have to fix the asylum situation; its ridiculous. You have people coming in, claiming asylum.

The Kushner team is expected to try and develop a new proposal on legal immigration reform, but Trump was clearly frustrated with the original legal immigration proposal and felt strongly that the administrations focus needed to be on border security, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

They had the meeting. The presentation was made, said a source familiar with the discussion. He (Trump) became frustrated. Hes very frustrated over the border crisis also. And he felt that what made it to his desk was just not good enough and not what he wanted to do. Hes very vexed by this border crisis and saw that he needed to give clearer direction. The idea is theyre going to put together something that can become a theme for the administration going forward to reelection.

Another source familiar with the meeting said the new plan is more in line with Trumps pro-worker agenda.

After meeting last week things are moving in the opposite direction of immigration increases, betrayal of campaign promises, said the person familiar with the discussion.

The White House pushed back against the idea of any differences in goals between Miller and Kushner.

President Trump alone sets immigration policy thats designed to solve the humanitarian crisis at our border, prevent illegal entry into our country and protect the American people theres no daylight between the Presidents team as they work to implement that agenda, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told McClatchy

In less than a week, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned and Ron Vitiellos nomination to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement was pulled. On Tuesday, a senior administration official said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security agency that handles legal immigration, dropped the ball for not taking steps to more rigorously scrutinize asylum cases.

For at least six months weve been trying to get USCIS to cross-reference credible fear claims against country condition reports and they havent done so, a senior administration official said.

An advisor to the Department of Homeland Security said the reality is there is a head on a platter mentality, regardless of whether the issue is legal immigration or illegal immigration. The advisor said whatever reductions on immigration cant be made to illegal immigration would likely be made to legal immigration.

It certainly represents a blow to one of the top legislative goals of Jared who was hoping to use immigration reform to better his personal relationship with some of the top CEOs and tech leaders in America and he now knows that those folks are not going to be able to get anything out of this administration.

Those who know Miller say not to underestimate the senior advisor to Trump and that he is more strategic than people realize. He will not jeopardize his position in a dispute with Kushner, who as a family member is considered untouchable.

Late last year, Kushner helped kick off a fresh discussion on immigration that reflected a new paradigm in the White House. That new direction was reflected in Trumps ad-libbed comment about increasing legal immigration during the February State of the Union.

I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally, Trump said during that address to a joint session of Congress.

It appeared to be a shift away from the priorities of 2017, Trumps first year in office, that sought to prevent the influx of foreign workers who could displace American workers in favor of a new approach preferred by more traditional Republicans, particularly those close to the corporate sector who are desperate to attract more foreign workers to fill U.S. factories and tech hubs.

Those concerns about the growing influence of corporate executives on the White House led groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) to launch a new ad reminding Trump of his Buy American, Hire American agenda. One of the first images in the ad was of Kushner below the headline: Can the Koch Network and Jared Kushner Come Up with a Big Immigration Reform Deal?

Millers recent ascendancy on immigration is seen as a return to the core issues that got Trump elected.

Trump won the GOP nomination and the presidency in 2016 by campaigning on a promise to crack down on immigration, build a border wall and end an Obama-era program that offered the so-called Dreamers temporary, renewable work permits.

Kushners involvement was kind of boutique and novel like going out for a Heineken, whereas when youre talking about Stephen, its always Miller time, said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. Miller is a known quality and Kushner is sort of an exotic dabbling on issues and trying to explore its dimensions.

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A White House official said no final decision has been made on a replacement for the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, adding that the timing remains in flux. | John Moore/Getty Images

The White House is considering nominating the former head of an anti-immigration group to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to a White House official and three people briefed on the deliberations, the latest development in a series of staffing shakeups that have alarmed some Republican senators.

Julie Kirchner, the former executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which pushes for lower levels of immigration, is being considered as an option to lead the agency, the sources said. She had also been considered for the deputy director role in recent weeks.

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If selected and confirmed by the Senate, she would replace Francis Cissna, who is expected to be ousted by the end of this week, according to three sources familiar with the matter, as President Donald Trump and aide Stephen Miller continue their purge of top Homeland Security officials.

While White House officials have repeatedly said privately they expect Cissna to be pushed out, one official acknowledged that Sen. Chuck Grassleys opposition to the move could complicate things, potentially causing the president to keep Cissna on the job.

The decision also likely won't be finalized until after Kevin McAleenan steps in as acting DHS secretary. McAleenan is expected to weigh in on the personnel move.

DHS, USCIS and Kirchner did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Cissna would become the fifth official in recent days to either resign or have their job yanked moves that have rattled fellow Republicans who fear the president is destabilizing DHS as he pursues a newly aggressive immigration crackdown.

Kirchners potential move will likely infuriate Democrats and immigration activists. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate watchdog, labeled FAIR a hate group because it promotes hatred of immigrants, especially non-white ones.

Kirchner joined the Trump administration shortly after the president took office as USCIS ombudsman, a position tasked with resolving problems with pending cases.

Cissna is a former staffer to Grassley (R-Iowa), who has rallied behind him. Restrictionist immigration groups also have pushed for the White House to keep Cissna at USCIS, arguing hes been one of the more effective Trump administration officials carrying out the presidents agenda.

Grassley also said Kathy Nuebel Kovarik, another former staffer who heads the USCIS office of policy and strategy, should not be removed.

I heard that they are on the list to be fired, he told POLITICO earlier this week. They are doing in an intellectual-like way what the president wants to accomplish. So no, they should not go.

Other senators have urged Trump not to oust any more officials, arguing that hes creating a crisis within DHS, a sprawling federal agency.

So far, Trump has pushed out Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Secret Service Director Randolph Alles and Claire Grady, the acting Homeland Security deputy secretary. Hes also yanked the nomination of Ron Vitiello to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A person close to DHS, however, said that Alles is moving over to be deputy undersecretary for management at DHS. Kevin [McAleenan] apparently wants to keep him in the fold, the person said.

Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.

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White House eyeing former head of anti-immigration group ...

Days after ousting Department of Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen for not taking an even more evil approach to dealing with asylum seekers than she already was, Donald Trump has made clear that he plans to take a significantly more brutal approach to immigration moving forward. After purging D.H.S. of a slew of officials who didnt pass Stephen Millers white-rage smell test, the president reportedly wants to axe current U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Lee Francis Cissna and potentially replace him with a woman who once ran an anti-immigration organization that has been labeled a hate group.

Julie Kirchner, the former executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which pushes for lower levels of immigration, is being considered as an option to lead the agency, the sources said. She had also been considered for the deputy director role in recent weeks. . . . Kirchners potential move will likely infuriate Democrats and immigration activists. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate watchdog, labeled FAIR a hate group because it promotes hatred of immigrants, especially non-white ones.

FAIR, which Kirchner led from 2007 to 2015, was founded in 1979 by John Tanton, who has espoused a reduction in immigration in order to protect an ethnic white majority and is a proponent of eugenics. According to the S.P.L.C., some of FAIRs backing has come from the Pioneer Fund, which, among other things, reportedly funds studies on the science of breeding superior human beings that was discredited by various Nazi atrocities. A former staffer on the Minnesota House Judiciary Committee, Kirchner was considered a key legislative strategist in FAIRs advocacy of state-level anti-immigrant measures, according to a 2017 New Yorker report. When she was first hired at D.H.S. in 2017, as an adviser to Customs and Border Protections acting commissioner, former C.B.P. head of internal affairs James Tomsheck warned that bringing someone like her into the agency will only validate the distorted view of immigrants at the border that too many agents already have. In other words, shes the perfect person to lead Trumps immigration services. (D.H.S., U.S.C.I.S., and Kirchner did not respond to Politicos requests for comment.)

The one potential speed bump would be the vocalized horror by Republicans over Trumps D.H.S. purge. Although Politico says White House officials expect Cissna to be pushed out in short order, one conceded that Senator Chuck Grassleys opposition to firing Cissna could complicate things, potentially causing the president to keep Cissna on the job. Even restrictionist immigration groups want him to stay, in a sign of how extreme Kirchner would be.

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Trump Wants Former Hate Group Leader for Top Immigration ...

Sen. Bernie SandersBernard (Bernie) SandersInslee knocks Trump for wind turbine remarks McConnell dismisses Medicare for All: Not while GOP controls Senate Buttigieg surges to third place in NH poll MORE (I-Vt.) on Sunday shot back at those who suggest he supports open borders, sayinghigh levels of global povertywould make anopen borders policy complicated.

When asked at an Oskaloosa, Iowa, town hall why he supported open borders,the 2020White House candidatewas quick toclarify his stance.

Im afraid you may be getting your information wrong," Sanders replied, according to The Washington Post. "I think what we need is comprehensive immigration reform.

Oh my god, theres a lot of poverty in this world, and youre going to have people from all over the world. And I dont think thats something that we can do at this point. Cant do it,the Vermont lawmakercontinued.

Sanders, as well as the majority of 2020 Democratic hopefuls, has not released an immigration platform yet.

President TrumpDonald John TrumpKoch network launches ad campaign opposing Trump's proposed gas tax Trump laments EU 'being so tough' on Brexit Inslee knocks Trump for wind turbine remarks MORE has frequently targeted Democrats on the issue of immigration, calling them "the party of Open Borders," although no elected Democrats have called for the policy.

In July,Sanders called for restructuringImmigration and Customs Enforcementas part of a broad immigration overhaul, saying in a tweet, We must not be about deporting DREAMers, young people who have lived in this country virtually their entire lives.

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Bernie Sanders says he is against open borders, for ...

Known also as the Simpson-Mazzoli Act for its legislative sponsors, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 was passed by Congress as an attempt to control illegal immigration into the United States.

The legislation passed the U.S. Senate on a 63-24 vote and the House 238-173 in October 1986. President Reagan signed it into law shortly after on Nov. 6.

The federal law had provisions that restricted the hiring of illegal immigrants in the workplace and also allowed illegal immigrants already in the country to stay here legally and avoid deportation.

Rep. Romano Mazzoli, D-Ken., and Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., sponsored the bill in Congress and steered its passage. Future generations of Americans will be thankful for our efforts to humanely regain control of our borders and thereby preserve the value of one of the most sacred possessions of our people: American citizenship, Reagan said upon signing the bill into law.

The president couldn't have been much more mistaken. People on all sides of the immigration argument agree that the 1986 Reform Act was a failure: it didn't keep illegal workers out of the workplace, it didnt deal with at least 2 million undocumented immigrants who ignored the law or were ineligible to come forward, and most of all, it didn't stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the country.

On the contrary, most conservative analysts, among them members of the Tea Party, say that the 1986 law is an example of how amnesty provisions for illegal immigrants encourage more of them to come.

Even Simpson and Mazzoli have said, years later, that the law didn't do what they hoped it would. Within 20 years, the number of illegal immigrants living in the United States had at least doubled.

Instead of curbing abuses in the workplace, the law actually enabled them. Researchers found that some employers engaged in discriminatory profiling and stopped hiring people who looked like immigrants Hispanics, Latinos, Asians to avoid any potential penalties under the law.

Other companies enlisted subcontractors as a way to insulate themselves from hiring illegal immigrant workers. The companies then could blame the middlemen for abuses and violations.

One of the failings in the bill was not getting wider participation. The law didn't deal with all the illegal immigrants already in the country and didn't reach out more effectively to those who were eligible. Because the law had the Jan. 1982 cutoff date, tens of thousands of undocumented residents were not covered. Thousands of others who might have participated were unaware of the law. In the end, only about 3 million illegal immigrants participated and became legal residents.

The failings of the 1986 law were often cited by critics of comprehensive immigration reform" during the 2012 election campaign and the congressional negotiations in 2013. Opponents of the reform plan charge that it contains another amnesty provision by granting illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and is sure to encourage more illegal immigrants to come here, just as its predecessor did a quarter-century ago.

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The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986