Sen. Tom Cotton: I'm Willing to Work With Dems on 'Dreamers'

Sen. Tom Cotton said Wednesday that he's willing to work with Democrats to solve the issue about the fate of "Dreamers" in the United States, but he also is concerned giving them legal status could cause even more issues in the future.

"If we do that, we're going to create some negative consequences," the Arkansas Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "One, of course, we're going to encourage more illegal immigration with children in the future which is dangerous, and two, we're going to create a whole new category of people who can be granted legal status through unlimited family reunification, the parents of these people, the very people who brought them here illegally."

Show host Joe Scarborough asked if the draft bill could be drawn tightly enough to deal with just the Dreamers, or people brought across the border illegally as children, who now are covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, but that could be complicated, Cotton said.

The underlying law would need to be changed, said Cotton, because applying a new law just to the Dreamers in question would allow them to "get legal status ultimately for their parents, and their siblings, and those people can get legal status of their spouses and so on and so forth."

However, he said his bill, the RAISE (Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment) Act, shows "we're not trying to do everything under the sun on immigration, but we are addressing the problem immediately in front of us."

Cotton said his bill does not include DACA legislation, but he does propose that "we could sit down and negotiate, include legal status for the 600,000 to 800,000 people who are covered by the DACA program, and address the problems that would create secondary effect, making sure that we're not opening up legal status for the people who violated the law in the first place."

Lawmakers, meanwhile, should not try to "solve every single problem we have" when determining a solution to DACA.

"We should address the problem that's in front of us and mitigate the consequences of that action," said Cotton. "That's what President [Donald] Trump wants to do. That's what we've discussed. That's what he said in his statement yesterday."

Trump did not end DACA on Tuesday, with his announcement that he would be ending it after a six-month delay, said Cotton.

"By extending it for six months, it gives Congress the opportunity to take legislative action to resolve this problem," said Cotton. "President Trump said he wants to take care of these people. I'm fine doing that as long as we mitigate consequences."

• Feinstein: DACA is on 'Shaky Legal Ground'
• Politico Poll: Majority of Americans Say Dreamers Should Stay