There is "no deal" on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, despite the Democratic leadership's instance on one this week after meeting with President Donald Trump, according to Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
"I think the president has said publicly there's not a deal, but he wants to see a deal," Cotton told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "In fact, he called me a couple of nights ago so say 'there is no deal.' He wants to make sure we protect the interest of American workers."
The president has asked Cotton to help work with Democrats on a DACA deal "that helps American workers," Cotton said, whereas Democrats' priorities lie with immigrants.
"They want to focus on a package of benefits for illegal immigrants," Cotton told Todd of Democrats, contrasting the GOP's focus in DACA deal-making. "We want to put American workers' interests first, and we'll do that.
"But there is no deal right now. I'm happy to work with the president and Democrats in Congress try to reach a deal that helps American workers."
Cotton acknowledged "Congress has shown three times that it can't pass a major comprehensive immigration bill."
"What you need is targeted and incremental deal that solves this problem of the 700,000 [DACA recipients] but also mitigates the negative side affects of it," Cotton told Todd.
". . . That's why we can't simply codify DACA. We also have to deal with the negative side effects."
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