Until the border is secure, immigration reform can't happen, and that will take cooperation between Republicans and Democrats, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., said Wednesday.
"I want to get us back to where we were just what, 18 months ago, when we were talking about a package for border security in exchange for dealing with the DACA issue," Rep. Waltz told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
At that time, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans were offering a deal that would have created a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants, but Democrats would not agree, as there were restrictions on legal immigration.
"The president offered 1.8 million, a million more than President [Barack] Obama did, a pathway," said Waltz, and "then to also deal with the chain migration, with the lottery system, and the merit-based system."
But unless the border is secured, "you'll find yourself in the same problem over and over again," Waltz said.
Meanwhile, as the nation's laws stand, migrants who enter the United States with a child are usually able to stay, Waltz said.
"The administration is damned if it does or doesn't on this one," Waltz said. "Because of the Flores agreement, the court agreement, children can't be held longer than 20 days. The administration has tried to keep children with their parents to avoid family separation, which they are getting beat up for, but if they do, then they're in violation of the court agreement."
The matter needs a legislative fix, he added, and "Congress needs to do its job as Trump has been "reasonable" with his deals.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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