Press. voanews.com
President-elect
Donald Trump is pulling back from some of the immigration policies he proposed
as a candidate. Trump is still promising stronger enforcement of immigration
laws. He also continues to call for a new wall along the United States southern
border with Mexico. But he no longer
calls for the removal of 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United
States. His campaign proposal to block all Muslim immigrants was modified
before the November 8 presidential election. The new proposal calls for more
careful “vetting” of people seeking to enter the United States. Trump says he will cancel some of President
Barack Obama’s executive orders, but he is suggesting a willingness to
compromise.
What
about dreamers?
During
the campaign, Trump often talked about ending one immigration order by Obama.
It permits about 700,000 immigrants brought illegally to the United States as
children to remain in the United States and to apply for work permits. They are
sometimes called, “dreamers.”
Trump
softened his position in a recent discussion with Time magazine. “We’re going
to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud,” Trump said.
“They got brought here at a very young age, they’ve worked here, they’ve gone
to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs.”
Trump
also said that he will not try, as he once said during his campaign, to remove
all illegal immigrants. Instead, Trump said he will order the removal of
undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes.
But that
will not be easy.
The Obama
administration faced opposition from some countries that refused to accept the
return of their citizens. Trump said he
is keeping his campaign proposal to build a big wall along the United States
southern border. He spoke about the wall during a recent speech in Wisconsin.
“We’re
going to build the wall,” Trump said. “We have to. We have got to stop the
drugs from coming in and the wall is going to be a big, big factor.” During the
campaign, he said Mexico would pay for the wall although Mexican officials have
said they have no plans to do so.
Trump has
said he also plans to move ahead with his proposal to cut federal funding for
cities that refuse to hold undocumented immigrants. He has
pointed to serious crimes, including murder, committed by some undocumented
immigrants who were released after serving sentences for earlier crimes. The U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sometimes requests to be told when a
non-citizen is released from a state or local prison. This would permit the
agency to take that person into custody and decide if the person should be
deported.
But some
local and state governments do not do this for several different reasons. One
reason they give is that immigration enforcement is not their responsibility.
Another reason given is that if they help to deport people it might lead to
distrust between immigrant communities and local police agencies. Cities that
do not inform the federal government about the release of undocumented
immigrants are sometimes known as “sanctuary cities.”
Some
mayors say no
Rahm
Emanuel, mayor of the American city of Chicago, is one of a number of mayors
who say his city will continue its sanctuary city policy, even if results in
loss of federal funds.
“Since
the presidential election, there has been a sense of uncertainty among many
immigrant communities in Chicago and across the nation,” Emanuel said. “I want
to assure all of our families that Chicago is and will remain a sanctuary
city.”
But Trump
does not appear likely to soften his position on this issue. He nominated
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general, the federal government’s
top law enforcement position. Sessions proposed a bill as a senator to cut
federal funding to cities that do not hold and turn over undocumented
immigrants to federal immigration officers.
Roy Beck
heads Numbers USA, a Virginia-based group that supports more limits on
immigration. He said Trump’s promise to limit immigration was a major reason he
won the presidential election. Beck
expects Trump to focus on cutting temporary permits for foreign workers and
other programs that might take away jobs from American citizens.
Bill de
Blasio, mayor of New York City, America’s most populated city, supported
Hillary Clinton for president, but recently met with Trump. He urged the
president-elect not to cancel President Obama’s executive order that allows
people who came to the United States as children to remain in the U.S. and get
work permits.
“One of
the thing I thought was most important about my meeting with him [Trump] was to
say, ‘This is your city, I know you love your city; and there are many, many
thousands and thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people who are
fearful right now,'” the mayor said.
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