President Trump outlined what he called “vital reform” of the nation’s immigration laws during his “State of the Union” speech last (Tuesday) night, but Republican Congressman Steve King is skeptical. “The president said he wants to solve this immigration once and for all,” King says, “but I think even his proposal falls far short.”

King says he doubts there’s enough G-O-P support in the House for a key component of Trump’s plan. King is opposed to citizenship for the one-point-eight million people who’d qualify for the DACA program because they were brought into the country illegally when they were children. “Amnesty is something that just sacrifices the rule of law and he said also a path to citizenship over 12 years for them,” King says. “I was watching the crowd, as I do, and it’s most instructive. The Republicans didn’t seem very enthusiastic about a path to citizenship.”

And King says it didn’t appear to him Democrats were that enthusiastic about Trump’s offer either. King predicts the “trade” Trump is offering for DACA recipients won’t secure enough Democratic votes for the entire package to make up for lost G-O-P votes.  “I think that he’s not thought this through,” King says, “or he’s got a different equation and it works different than mine does.”

King says he wants a wall along the southern border and tougher enforcement of current immigration laws, plus King would vote to end so-called “chain migration,” something that IS part of the president’s plan. Other members of Iowa’s congressional delegation are signalling they’re open to an immigration bill that would offer some sort of legal status to the so-called “Dreamers” who arrived illegally in the U.S. when they were children. Senator Joni Ernst says Trump’s proposals are a “starting point.” “He has given congress direction, but that is not the final word,” Ernst says.

Congressman David Young, a Republican from Van Meter, says finding something that can pass muster in both the Senate and House won’t be easy. “But I think it is a priority by both sides of the aisle to make sure that there’s not just a deal in the end for the deal’s sake, but there’s actually a real solution to this issue,” Young says. And Young predicts any successful deal will have to include all the components or “pillars” to immigration reform that Trump outlined in his speech last (Tuesday) night.

(Radio Iowa)