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Ahead of President Donald Trump's first speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, we got somewhat surprising news out of the White House: Trump, whose thundering anti-immigrant rhetoric was central to his hair-raising campaign, is actually open to the kind of immigration reform his predecessor promised but couldn't deliver.

Or at least that was the "news," in the form of anonymous accounts from a sort-of off-the-record White House briefing with TV anchors in which Trump said some vague stuff about how "the time is right for an immigration bill."

Then came the speech, which was anything but the anonymously-assured "departure" from Trump's cold, hard stance on immigration. He labeled immigrants as a drag on the economy and a threat to national security. He hinted at a shift to a "merit-based system" of immigration, the right's longstanding euphemism for allowing fewer people to come to the country as family members of U.S. citizens. And even as the president urged Congress to reduce "lower-skilled immigration," it's not clear if Team Trump is even sold on the idea of increasing visas for high-skilled immigrants Trump chief strategistSteve Bannon, for instance, worries even those immigrants could threaten our "civic society."

Not a peep about a legal pathway for the millions of undocumented immigrants who aren't criminals and have deep ties to the country. Here's most of what Trump had to say about immigration reform in his speech:

It will save countless dollars, raise workers' wages, and help struggling families, including immigrant families enter the middle class. And they will do it quickly, and they will be very, very happy indeed.

I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: To improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nation's security, and to restore respect for our laws."

But a departure from the Trump script it was not.

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Trump Promises "Immigration Reform" That Will Make People "Very, Very Happy" - San Antonio Current

There were two important points related to immigration in last nights speech. The first is that the media hype about Trump possibly floating an amnesty plan was nonsense. It was driven by comments from the president himself to reporters earlier in the day that hed be open to a deal that offered a non-citizenship amnesty to non-violent illegal aliens and a regular citizenship amnesty for the DACAs (illegals who came before age 16 whom Obama lawlessly amnestied). I dont think that was planned; hes seemed to embrace a Jeb-like immigration plan in past off-the-cuff comments, only to back away when speaking formally, and that seems to be what happened. Taking this seriously was wishful thinking by the media and paranoia by immigration hawks (including myself) though the paranoia, or better, eternal vigilance, is always necessary.

The more important takeaway was his emphasis on the jobs impact of immigration, and legal immigration specifically. Yes, he highlighted the national security and public safety aspects of the issue, recognizing Jamiel Shaw and others whove lost loved ones to illegal-alien criminals apprehended then released by the authorities. But he also said By finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions of dollars, and make our communities safer for everyone.

But going beyond illegal immigration, he also said, Protecting our workers also means reforming our system of legal immigration. The current, outdated system depresses wages for our poorest workers, and puts great pressure on taxpayers. He called for a merit-based system more like that of Canada or Australia, one that emphasizes skills and education rather than family connections. This seemed to be an implicit endorsement of at least the general approach that Tom Cotton and David Perdue have taken in their RAISE Act to prune back family immigration rights to spouses and minor children of Americans and legal residents.

It was important, both for policy and politics, that he included to improve jobs and wages for Americans in the goals of immigration reform, along with to strengthen our nations security, and to restore respect for our laws. Most illegal aliens, let alone legal immigrants, arent bad hombres, but the mass admission of even good hombres is bad for American workers. To flesh out that policy, it would help to see some emphasis on worksite enforcement and E-Verify, to go along with arresting and deporting criminals.

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Immigration in Trump's Quasi-SOTU - National Review

President Trump on Tuesday saidhe is open to an immigration reform billthat could provide a pathway to legal status but not citizenship for potentially millions of people who are in the United States illegally but have not committed serious crimes.

At a private White House luncheon with television news anchors, Trump signaled an openness to a compromise that would represent a softening fromthe crackdown on all undocumented immigrants that he promised during his campaign and that his more hard-line supporters have long advocated.

The time is right for an immigration bill as long as there is compromise on both sides, Trump told the anchors. His comments, reported by severalof the journalists present, were confirmed by an attendee of the luncheon.

Trump said he hopes both sides can come together to draft legislation in his first term that holistically addresses the countrys immigration system, which has been the subject of intense and polarizing debate in Washington for more than a decade.

The comments were particularly striking given Trumps long history of criticism of U.S. immigration policy and a presidential campaign centered on talk of mass deportations of the estimated 11million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

The remarks came shortly before he met at the White House with family members of Americans killed by illegal immigrants. Trump also invited those family members to attend his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, part of an emotional appeal by the president and his administration to build support for stronger border-control measures.

[Trump prepares to address a divided audience: The Republican Congress]

At the meeting with television anchors, Trump suggested he is willing to address legal status for those who are in the country illegally but have not committed crimes. But he would not necessarily support a pathway to citizenship, except perhaps for Dreamers, who were brought into the country illegally as children, according to a report by CNNs Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper, who attended the luncheon.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House principal deputy press secretary, said she could not confirm Trumps comments in the private luncheon.

The president has been very clear in his process that the immigration system is broken and needs massive reform, and hes made clear that hes open to having conversations about that moving forward, Sanders said in a Tuesday afternoon briefing with reporters. Right now his primary focus, as he has made [clear] over and over again, is border control and security at the border.

Trump has vowed to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and increase funding for federal law enforcement efforts in border areas. He also has instructed the Department of Homeland Security to round up and deport those in this country illegally who have committed serious crimes or caused violence.

The president likened recent immigration raids to a military operation, although Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly made clear the military was not involved in conducting them.

[Trump touts recent immigration raids, calls them 'a military operation']

It is unclear whether Trump will follow through on pursuing an immigration compromise. The president in the past has made comments, in private or in media interviews, that have not been borne out by his administrations policies. For example, he has yet to follow through on his pledge to investigate alleged voter fraud in the 2016 election.

In early February, Trump expressed openness to revisiting past immigration reform efforts, including the failed 2013 Gang of Eight bill, which drew opposition from Republicans. At a meeting with moderate Democratic senators, Trump told them he thought that bill was something he was interested in revisiting, according to the senators.

The White House later denied that Trump was open to the legislation and said that he considered the bill to be amnesty.

After his meeting with the anchors Tuesday, Trump met in the Oval Office with Jamiel Shaw Sr., whose son was shot by a gang member in Los Angeles in 2008, and Jessica Davis and Susan Oliver, who were married to California police officers killed in the line of duty in 2014.

Their presence in the presidential box in the House chamber Tuesday evening represented a pointed message about the costs of illegal immigration a week after the DHS rolled out sweeping new enforcement guidelines. Trump said the measures are aimed at ramping up the deportations of immigrants who present a public safety risk, part of a broader effort that includes plans for a border wall with Mexico and attempts to restrict refugees from seven majority-Muslim nations.

Trumps spotlight on the victims families has sparked an outcry among those who charge that the president is exaggerating the risks to sow public fear and make his proposals more politically expedient. Studies have shown that immigrants, including the estimated 11million living in this country illegally, have lower crime rates than the native-born population.

It is consistent with the campaign and also with the political tone of the executive orders he signed, said Randy Capps, director of research at the Migration Policy Institute. They are very clearly trying to highlight a criminal element that does exist in the unauthorized population. But they are implying its a broad population, when we believe its a narrow population from the statistics weve seen.

Proponents of stricter immigration policies said the president is trying to reframe the debate by focusing it around the harmful effects that U.S. immigration laws can have on Americans.

The media tends to cover immigration issues through the frame of how it impacts everybody but actual citizens of the United States, Stephen Miller, Trumps senior policy adviser, said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek published Tuesday.

In many cases, immigrants convicted of crimes are released from federal custody because of a Supreme Court ruling that prevents indefinite detention if their countries will not accept them back.

In other cases, local jurisdictions known as sanctuary cities have passed laws that prohibit officials from sharing information with federal authorities about illegal immigrants who pass through the judicial system. In 2015, Kathryn Steinle, a San Francisco woman, was shot and killed by an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who had been deported five times, a case that drew national attention.

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Trump says he is open to immigration compromise that provides a pathway to legal status - Washington Post

President Trump plans to call on lawmakers to expand health insurance access and lower costs as part of ObamaCare replacement legislation, according to excerpts of his Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress setting ambitious goals for the bill Republican congressional leaders are drafting.

In the excerpts of prepared remarks, obtained by Fox News, Trump says: Tonight Im also calling on this Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that expand choice, increase access, lower costs and at the same time provide better health care.

The president also plans to tackle everything from immigration to national security in his address.

According to prepared remarks, he will cast his tough immigration policies as an economic issue.

By finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions of dollars and make our communities safer for everyone, he plans to say.

On another key campaign promise, Trump says in the prepared remarks that his team is developing historic tax reform that will reduce the tax rate on our companies so they can compete and thrive anywhere and with anyone, along with massive tax relief for the middle class.

He says: The time for small thinking is over, the time for trivial fights is behind us, we just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our hearts, the bravery to express the hopes that stir our souls, and the confidence to turn those hopes and dreams to action. From now on, America will be empowered by our aspirations not burdened by our fears.

He also vows that his budget will boost funding for veterans. And he says the U.S. cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside of America. We cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for extremists.

On the domestic policy front, he says, Education is the civil rights issue of our time.

The excerpts were released just over an hour before Trump was set to enter the House chamber for his address. Earlier Tuesday, Trump also voiced tentative support for immigration legislation.

The time is right for an immigration bill as long as both sides are willing to compromise, Trump said at a lunch with news anchors.

He reportedly is open to considering a pathway to legal status for some illegal immigrants. But its unclear how far Trump might press the issue in his address Tuesday night, as he also pushes for increased border security and other priorities.

The hint at renewing the immigration reform debate in Congress drew a mixed response late Tuesday from Senate leaders.

Asked about the prospect, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, If he's got an idea, we'd be happy to take a look at it.

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voiced doubt. He's got a lot to undo, I mean, the immigrant community is rightfully scared, of what President Trump has done, he said.

Democrats official response will come from former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear. According to excerpts of prepared remarks, Beshear will blast Trump and fellow Republicans efforts to repeal ObamaCare.

This, he warns, would rip affordable health insurance away from millions of Americans who most need it.

He says every GOP plan to replace the health care law so far would reduce the number of Americans covered, despite promises to the contrary.

The speech comes at critical moment, as Trump tries to galvanize a Congress that, despite being under full Republican control, still has not advanced legislation to deal with key campaign vows to replace the Affordable Care Act and reform the tax system. He is under pressure Tuesday to unite party allies behind a common agenda.

On ObamaCare, some Republicans already have seized on a leaked repeal plan draft to blast GOP leaders efforts. Conservatives like Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Mark Walker, R-N.C., both have criticized the outline, including its treatment of tax credits.

Ahead of Tuesday nights speech, House Speaker Paul Ryan played down divisions.

This is a plan that we are all working on together, he told reporters. There arent rival plans here. Were going to be unified on this.

But Ryan, at a separate briefing, voiced some concerns about Trumps approach to the federal budget a day after White House officials previewed a plan to boost military spending by $54 billion, cut other agency budgets by the same amount and leave entitlements like Medicare untouched.

Asked about the presidents apparent reluctance to cut entitlements, Ryan said, "There is an open question on long-term entitlement reform."

Trumps forthcoming budget faces pitfalls on other fronts, as some defense hawks think it doesnt go far enough to rebuild the military, deficit hawks think it doesnt go far enough to cut spending and others are worried about cuts to nondefense accounts.

Hours before the speech, McConnell cast doubt on whether the Senate could pass a budget proposal that seeks steep cuts to the State Department, one of the ways Trump might fund the increase for the military.

Aside from internal GOP tensions over legislative goals, Trump continues to grapple with numerous leaks from inside his administration and intermittent staffing controversies that most prominently included Michael Flynn resigning as national security adviser over apparently misleading Vice President Pence on past contacts with the Russian ambassador.

Multiple media reports, which Trump repeatedly decries as bogus, have raised questions about additional contacts between his allies and Moscow another issue that has divided Republicans, with some seeking an independent probe and others rejecting those calls. And most immediately, Trumps team is looking to rewrite and reissue his controversial executive order suspending the refugee program and admissions from seven mostly Muslim countries, after it was blocked in court amid widespread protests.

Fox News John Roberts, Mike Emanuel and Bret Baier contributed to this report.

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Trump to call on Congress to expand access, lower costs with ObamaCare replacement - Fox News

President Trump indicated again Tuesday that heis open tooverhauling the countrysimmigration laws, including a path to legal status for nonviolent offenders, a departure from the harsh crackdown on illegal immigration that he has instituted since taking office.

Trump was considering calling foran immigration reform bill in his high-profile speech to Congress on Tuesday night, he told a group of television anchors earlier in the day.

Trump has expressed a willingness to soften his stance before. He told senators as recently as two weeks ago that they should revive the 2013 proposal that died in the House.

Such a move would be a dramatic about-face from the actions he has taken so far, chieflysigningorders last month that subject to deportation virtually all of the 11 million people in the U.S.

Nonetheless, Trumpsaid Tuesday during a lunch with television anchors that the time may be right for immigration reform if both sides compromise, according to PBS NewsHour correspondent John Yang and others present.

Trump believes Congress may be in a position to navigate one of the thorniest policy thickets after two failures to pass a bill in the last decade, including the 2013 effort.

The president has been very clear in his process that the immigration system is broken and needs massive reform, and hes made clear that hes open to having conversations about that moving forward, Sarah H. Sanders, White Housedeputy press secretary, told reporters Tuesday.

She wouldn't say whether Trump will include a call for immigration reform in his address to lawmakers.

Right now, his primary focus, as he has made clear over and over again, is border control and security at the border and deporting criminals from our country, and keeping our country safe, and those priorities have not changed, Sanders said.

During his first week in office, Trump wiped away restrictions on immigration officers, opening the door to deportations for millions of immigrants in the country illegally.

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Live updates: Trump will pitch his agenda to lawmakers in speech before Congress - Los Angeles Times