Trump to Sign Legislation Protecting Young Immigrants From Deportation

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U.S. President Donald Trump told key lawmakers Tuesday that he would sign whatever legislation they agreed upon to protect hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from being deported and to improve security along the country's border with Mexico.

In an extraordinary televised meeting at the White House, Trump said that comprehensive immigration reforms could be dealt with later. He said he still believed a wall needed to be built along at least part of the 3,200-kilometer (1,990-mile) U.S.-Mexico border, but he seemed to back off earlier demands that it be funded immediately.

"When this group comes back with an agreement, I'm signing it," Trump said.

A statement from the White House press secretary said, "President Donald J. Trump just concluded a successful bipartisan and bicameral meeting on immigration reform. During the closed-door portion of the meeting, they reached an agreement to negotiate legislation that accomplishes critically needed reforms in four high-priority areas: border security, chain migration, the visa lottery, and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy."

The U.S. leader said lawmakers need first to protect as many 800,000 young immigrants — brought illegally to the United States years ago by their parents, mostly from Mexico and Central American countries — from being deported. Trump last year rescinded DACA, an administrative program implemented by former President Barack Obama that protected the youths from deportation, but he gave Congress until March 5 to come up with legislation that provided similar protections.

Trump normally dismisses reporters and photojournalists from his meetings after perfunctory remarks, but on Tuesday he allowed them to watch the immigration discussions with lawmakers for 45 minutes.

Some Republican lawmakers pushed back on Trump's agreement to prioritize dealing with young immigrants — sometimes called Dreamers after the DREAM Act, earlier federal legislation that would have provided protections similar to those in DACA but was never approved. But as the discussion continued, Trump also said border "security" needed to be dealt with, even as he left it up to the lawmakers to work out details.