President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he'd be open to allowing protections for young illegal immigrants "morph into" citizenship in 10 to 12 years, multiple reports say.
According to CBS News, Trump said he'd consider a path to citizenship for all Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients in that time frame, if they have no criminal record.
The president is due to unveil his immigration plan on Monday.
But at an off-camera briefing, Trump told reporters, "We're going to morph into it," CBS News reported.
"It's going to happen at some point in the future over a period of 10 to 12 years," he said. "Somebody does a great job. They worked hard. It gives incentive to do a great job. They've worked hard. They've done terrifically.
"Whether they have a little company or whether they work or whatever they're doing — if they do a great job, I think it's a nice thing to have incentive of, after a period of years being able to become a citizen."
Asked if he might extend the March 5 deadline for phasing out DACA if there isn't a legislative deal by then, said he "might."
"Yeah I might do that. I'm not guaranteeing it," the president said, CBS News reported.
He also wants $5 billion for border security and $25 billion for a border wall with Mexico -- $30 billion in total. The president said he thinks he will get both.
"At one point, he looked at John Kelly and said ‘John, by the time I get back, you better have a deal done,'" CNN reported on the Situation Room.
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