While the Trump administration is planning to impose more restrictions on immigration, Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen said that the government is also considering ways to provide citizenship to young immigrants.
According to a report in Chicago Sun-Times, Kirstjen Nielsen said the Trump administration would consider legislation which can provide young, unauthorized people with a pathway to citizenship.
Nielsen said in an interview that Congress was considering three options for immigrants to stay back in the US. This includes citizenship or permanent legal status for people who do not have permanent residency or residency for a certain amount of time.
However, she made it clear that the administration hasn’t taken any decision regarding this.
When she was asked if the president would support citizenship, she said: “I think he’s open to hearing about the different possibilities and what it means but, to my knowledge, there certainly hasn’t been any decision from the White House.”
The secretary said she was hopeful that the White House and the Congress can make an agreement in which they can solve the issues related to border and immigration enforcement measures. She said building a wall in between Mexico border was “first and foremost” and the administration wanted to end the “loopholes” issues related to immigration authorities and local police.
Nielsen said that she along with the other administration officials will discuss a potential deal with the congressional leaders of legislative priorities for 2018.
Earlier, Trump said on Twitter that Democrats are “doing nothing” for DACA recipients. The same day the secretary spoke with the Associated Press in an interview.
Trump is expected to ask for more than $3 billion over the next two year for the wall, Nielsen said, after her visit to the prototypes of Trump’s proposed border wall in San Diego.
“It’s all down payment,” she said. “This is not going to get us the whole wall we need but its a start.”
“Nielsen said she believed any permanent protection for DACA recipients should be limited to the hundreds of thousands who qualified during the three years it was in effect, not anyone who would meet the criteria if it were still in place,” the article mentioned.
“Everybody wants to find a solution – a permanent solution – to DACA,”I mean I really haven’t talked to anybody who has said, ‘Nah, we don’t want to do that,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen is facing a Monday deadline on whether to expand permission for about 200,000 Salvadorans to remain in the country with temporary protected status, and it is designed to protect foreigners from escaping natural disasters.
Nielsen said she had spoken with the top diplomats of El Salvador about their return would be carried out and said others have gone home to start small businesses. She explained about the awareness of temporary extensions.
“Getting them to a permanent solution is a much better plan than having them live six months, to 12 months to 18 months,” Nielsen said.