President Donald Trump is being too “generous” in his considering a replacement to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to one Republican congressman.
Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., said at an event in his district last week that Trump “probably has a more generous plan for DACA than I would,” proposing a “transition to zero tolerance,” instead, according to The Washington Post.
Coffman has presented himself as a moderate alternative to Trump, and his campaign ads note his work on behalf of immigrant communities. His district, which includes a sizable portion of Denver’s suburbs, voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Earlier this year, the congressman harshly criticized Trump for his “zero tolerance” policy on the U.S. border with Mexico.
In a video obtained by the Post, an attendee asks Coffman about birthright citizenship, and how Congress should act on “anchor babies,” and said that while young immigrants and Mexicans are worried about DACA, Central American immigrants are more focused on temporary protected status visas.
“They’ve been here forever legally,” he said. “It’s what to do about that population. I think we have to, I know we have to, transition to zero tolerance.”
His Democratic opponent in the upcoming midterm elections, attorney Jason Crow, told the newspaper that “behind closed doors, Mike Coffman revealed who he really is: a fraud.”
Coffman’s campaign manager, Tyler Sandberg, accused Democrats of misleading the congressman’s remarks.
“Mike Coffman has been a bipartisan leader on immigration reform, no matter how much Democratic operatives want to lie about and distort his record,” he said.
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