House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Friday called for a clean DREAM Act bill, endorsing the bipartisan framework suggested by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin in a meeting Thursday with President Donald Trump.
"In October, the president wrongly decided to terminate DACA," the California Democrat said in a statement, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. "Since that time, the president has constantly said he supports DACA."
"The confusion of the last week has clouded the debate, but what is clear is that must we must insist upon a clean DREAM Act, which is supported overwhelmingly by the American people, has bipartisan support in Congress and must be enacted in January."
On Tuesday, Trump said in a bipartisan meeting that he would "take the heat" for signing a broad immigration bill that might include a pathway to citizenship if Congress got one to his desk.
After the meeting, the White House said that any immigration legislation must address four areas: DACA, ending chain migration, stopping the visa lottery program, and building a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.
But on Thursday, Trump reportedly slammed Africa, Haiti and El Salvador as "s***hole countries" in a smaller bipartisan session that included Graham, the South Carolina Republican, and Durbin, a Democrat who represents Illinois.
The lawmakers had suggested restoring protections to immigrants from those countries when Trump made the slur, The Washington Post reported.
Durbin slammed the president for the comments Friday, while Graham said that he "said his piece" to Trump — though he did not say in his statement whether the president had made the negative remarks.
Trump denied using the vulgarity on Friday as he rejected the Graham-Durbin framework.
"The bipartisan Senate proposal put forward by Sens. Graham and Durbin recognizes the importance of protecting our DREAMers," Pelosi said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.