Washington, DC – Last night, the Trump administration sent a proposal to Congress laying out a framework for a deal on immigration reform. The proposal would permit a path to legal status for DACA recipients and other DACA-eligible illegal immigrants, while at the same time likely gutting protections the Trump administration often refers to as legal “loopholes,” that are crucial to saving the lives of children, families, and others seeking protection. The proposal also includes provisions to cut legal immigration by 50%, with a focus on limiting family migration, and provides for $25 billion in support for a border wall and other border security measures.

Katharina Obser at Women's Refugee Commission made the following statement:

“The Women’s Refugee Commission firmly believes in the need to protect the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who are an integral part of communities around the United States. However, no deal on immigration should trade the lives of one group of vulnerable individuals for another. Children and adults escaping violence are not exploiting a 'loophole,' nor do they pose a threat to border security. Instead, they are desperate to find safety and fairness in an immigration process they have a legal right to access. The Trump administration’s proposal would likely mean that vulnerable asylum seekers will languish in costly and inhumane detention facilities, or find themselves unable to present their case before an immigration judge. For children, the proposal would likely gut the safeguards that currently ensure that the U.S. does not return them to a situation that could harm them or send them into the hands of traffickers. Gutting those protections in the name of border security does not make America any safer, nor our borders more secure.”