White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that the bipartisan DACA plan by three senators was "dead on arrival" — but immigration legislation being pushed by House conservatives would be backed by President Donald Trump.
"It would encourage more illegal immigration, increase chain migration and retain the Visa lottery system," Sanders told reporters at the daily briefing of the bill.
The plan for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was proposed Jan. 11 in a White House meeting with President Trump by Republicans Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin.
"In short, it's totally unacceptable to the president and should be declared dead on arrival," she said.
"The president has been extraordinarily consistent on immigration and what his priorities are," Sanders continued.
"His views are shared by the vast majority of the American people and have bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives."
But legislation introduced last week by four House conservatives — Reps. Michael McCaul of Texas, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, Raul Labrador of Idaho and Martha McSally of Arizona — would likely garner President Trump's endorsement, Sanders said.
The bill addresses chain migration, the Visa lottery system, and border security. It also would provide $30 billion to build a border wall and to invest in new technology.
"I believe it addresses the principles that we've laid out and it would be something that we would support," Sanders said.
She also dismissed questions that the nearly 700,000 young aliens affected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program were being used as "bargaining chips" by the White House in the immigration debate.
"You can't fix the problem if you tinker with the immigration in a small way," Sanders told reporters. "We want to make sure we're not having this fight in two years, four years.
"We want to address making a permanent solution to DACA, but at the same time, closing the loophole so we don't have to continue having this battle.
"But we also want to put some things in place with border security," she added. "If you don't, you're not solving the problem.
"You're just extending it and making us deal with it at a later time."
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