The White House created chaos over immigration Thursday afternoon as Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed senators’ claims they had a biparsian deal on ‘Dreamers.’
Six senators boasted they had a deal in place that would solve the issue of what to do with hundreds of thousands of people brought to the U.S. illegally as children and whose legal status granted under the Obama administration is about to expire.
But when Huckabee Sanders was asked about the deal at the White House press briefing she told reporters, ‘There has not been a deal reached yet.’
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that there was no deal yet to help the ‘Dreamers,’ immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children, despite a handful of senators boasting that a deal had been made
Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, was one of six senators who signed on to a statement saying that a deal had been etched out between the two parties in the upper chamber
Shortly after the briefing, Sens. Dick Durbin, Democrat from Illinois, and Cory Gardner, Republican from Colorado, tweeted a statement saying there was indeed a deal.
‘Several of my colleagues and I have reached an agreement that reflects the discussion we had this week with @realDonaldTrump on a solution for Dreamers and border security,’ Gardner wrote, sharing a statement that was co-signed by five of his colleagues.
The group of senators working together included Gardner and Durbing, along with Republicans Sens. Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham, as well as Democrats Michael Bennet and Bob Menendez.
‘We have been working for four months and have reached an agreement in principle that addresses border security, the diversity visa lottery, chain migration/family reunification, and the Dream Act — the areas outlined by the President. We are now working to build support for that deal in Congress,’ the statement said.
However, a spokeswoman for President Trump told DailyMail.com that what Huckabee Sanders said from the podium still stands.
CNN reported that Durbin and Graham had met POTUS at the White House, along with a handful of other senators on Thursday, and Trump told the lawmaker to keep working.
At the briefing, Huckabee Sanders warned that the Democrats best not play politics over immigration and risk a government shutdown.
‘Democrats should stop making our brave troops and essential government functions political pawns in their swamp games,’ she said. ‘They should stop their obstruction and work with Republicans to fund the government.’
She also told reporters that she believed a deal would get done.
‘We are confident and we feel we’re going to get there,’ the press secretary said as she exited the podium for the day.
The White House meeting was also attended by Republicans including Sens. Tom Cotton and David Perdue, along with Reps. Bob Goodlatte and Kevin McCarthy, according to Sen. John Cornyn.
Cornyn indicated to CNN that the gang of six’s proposal wouldn’t be enough to get an immigration bill over the finish line.
‘I think the message has now been delivered that we need to get everybody at the table and we’ll take the best of their ideas,’ Cornyn said.