WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia--U.S. President Donald Trump urged his fellow Republicans on Thursday to put aside misgivings over letting young "Dreamer" immigrants stay in the United States and pass a bill that includes that measure but also imposes tough new immigration curbs.
The debate over immigration policy has become closely enmeshed with looming deadlines over government spending. Congress needs to agree by Feb. 8 on another temporary spending bill to keep the government running, and also needs to lift the ceiling on federal debt this month to avoid a government default.
A fight over funding last month led to a three-day government shutdown, resolved in part by a promise by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to hold a vote on a plan to extend protections for Dreamers - young immigrants brought to the country illegally when they were children.
"To get it done, we'll all have to make some compromises along the way, to get it done this way," Trump told lawmakers from his party at a countryside retreat. Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but need support from some Democrats to pass major bills in the Senate.
"We have to be willing to give a little in order for our country to gain a whole lot," Trump said.
Trump, whose election success hinged partly on his tough line on immigration, has said he is open to letting 1.8 million Dreamers stay in the country and eventually become citizens. But he made that offer contingent on new curbs for other types of legal immigrants, and on a $25 billion fund to pay for his long-promised wall along the border with Mexico.
