Chuck Schumer has two goals.
One is to destroy Donald Trump, and the second is to win control of Congress in 2018.
But Schumer just found out that his plans have crumbled, and now all hell is breaking loose.
The cornerstone to Schumer’s scheme to simultaneously become Majority Leader and ruin Trump was forcing amnesty through for the so-called “DREAMers.”
Schumer figured that pro-open border Republicans would team up with amnesty-loving Democrats to end-run Trump on granting citizenship for illegal aliens covered under Barack Obama’s illegal DACA amnesty program.
Democrats thought they could conspire with pro-amnesty Republicans to toss Trump a fig leaf of fake border security promises included in past immigration deals.
But Trump held firm on his demands for a border wall, and an end to chain migration as well as ending the visa lottery as part of any negotiation.
Politico reports:
“At a meeting with Trump and Republican senators at the White House on Thursday, discussions revolved around the wall, scaling back family-based immigration and reforms to the diversity visa lottery, according to senators who attended. Lankford said Trump and the GOP senators didn’t finalize an agreement, and Tillis said they were preparing a framework of border security and other measures they want attached to a DACA deal.
That framework will be presented to Democrats in the coming days, Tillis said. When it comes to a wall, Republicans are starting from Trump’s budget request for $1.6 billion for barriers along the southern border, which he estimated would be “probably a net increase of 600 miles of wall” over time that would be paid for by annual appropriations and potentially fees.
Trump stressed in the meeting that the diversity visa lottery, one of his frequent targets, should be terminated, according to Lankford. The Oklahoma senator said Thursday that any family-immigration reforms would need to be applied to a broader group than just DACA enrollees.
Democrats have been open to addressing issues with family-based immigration and the visa lottery.
“There’s no settlement out of it at this point,” Lankford said. “It’s still the ongoing conversation, trying to figure out where everybody is. Clearly, there needs to be another meeting.”
The Republicans hold the upper hand.
Trump’s pro-American immigration reform proposals are popular.
A recent poll by Numbers USA found 57 percent of likely voters favored ending chain migration as part of any deal on so-called “DREAMers.”
The same survey showed that 60 percent supported ending the diversity lottery as part of any agreement.
If Trump is able to strike a deal on DACA that includes his pro-American immigration proposals, then Democrats will be in trouble in 2018.
Democrats are depending on identity-politics obsessed amnesty-advocates to turn out and vote and power them to victory.
But if the Democrat base feels betrayed, they will sit on their hands, and Republicans will stand a strong chance of holding on to the Senate.
That will deal a death blow to Schumer’s goal of seizing control of the Senate and blocking the Trump agenda.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this story.
