I kind of liked it, to be honest with you. I think there was a lot of
candor in the room. People were expressing their points of view, and
there were many different points of view, but I think I came away from
that meeting with more hope than ever that we can do something about
DACA and the Dream Act. The President told us he would like to see it
done. He added, though, there were things he wanted to be a part of it. One of them dealt with border security, which has been a priority for
all of us from the beginning. We want to establish--both political parties want to establish that
we are committed to border security, and we are. How you define it,
what it costs, and how it is implemented--some of these things we can
define in our agreement; others will be left to future efforts by
Congress and the President. Then he talked about the family unification, and that is an issue
that is very delicate. It is one that, as my colleagues can imagine,
really hits home. It is very personal as to whether a member of a family can bring
someone they love--some relative in their family--to the United States. Even if they decide to bring them--incidentally, they may be waiting 30
years, in the case of those who are seeking entry into the United
States through family visas; 80 years, from China; 160 years from
Mexico. Some of these things are unrealistic and will never happen, but
to talk about family unification really strikes home with a lot of
families. I want to hear the President's point of view, but I want to deal with
this in the most sensitive and sincere way. We don't want to flood the
United States with people who are any danger to us, No. 1, or
nonproductive citizens, but we certainly want to see families unified. There is a question about diversity visas. I will not go into it
because it is a long story--the creation of this program, where it is
today, and where it might be in the future. Here is what I do believe after yesterday's meeting.
Keywords matched
border security visas DACA