New York AG ‘hopeful’ Trump will make deal on DACA

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) says he is hopeful President Trump will make a deal with Democrats to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients, but said if that doesn’t happen he is willing to sue the White House.

“We are hopeful. The President had a meeting with Senator [Charles] Schumer and Congress member Nancy Pelosi. They discussed making a deal,” Schneiderman said in an interview with John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York. “And we are very hopeful that there is a deal to be made.”

“But in the meantime,” he continued, “we are in court because we think the way they shut the program down, the motivation for shutting it down, was improper.”

Trump met with Senate Minority Leader Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Pelosi (D-Calif.) last month. 

Schneiderman also told Catsimatidis that DACA recipients in New York are “good, productive citizens”.

“It is really a matter of fundamental fairness,” Schneiderman says. “In New York, we have about 42,000 DACA grantees [who] contribute $140 million a year and state and local taxes. These are good productive citizens.”{mosads}

Trump rescinded DACA in September, giving Congress six months to protect the program’s recipients. Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the Trump administration would produce a set of core immigration principles “in the very short future.”

“I am not going to just cut DACA off, but rather provide a window of opportunity for Congress to finally act,” Trump said last month. “Congress now has the opportunity to advance responsible immigration reform that puts American jobs and American security first.”