'Tell them not to worry'
President Donald Trump on Wednesday previewed his outline for an immigration bill that he will promote next week, saying he wants $25 billion to build a border wall and is open to granting citizenship to illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.
Trump said he was optimistic he could come to an agreement with both Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress that would appeal to hardliners seeking tougher rules for immigrants while also preventing the roughly 700,000 "Dreamers" from being deported.
"Tell them not to be concerned, ok? Tell them not to worry. We're going to solve the problem. It's up to the Democrats, but they (the Dreamers) should not be concerned," Trump told reporters during an impromptu question-and-answer session at the White House.
Trump campaigned for president in 2016 promising tougher rules for immigration. In September, he announced he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, effective in March - unless Congress came up with a new law.
The program currently protects about 700,000 people, mostly Hispanic young adults, from deportation and provides them work permits.
Trump said his proposal would include a request for $25 billion for the border wall, $5 billion for other border security programs, measures to curb family sponsorship of immigrants, and an overhaul of or end to the visa lottery system.
In exchange, he said he wanted to offer the Dreamers protection from deportation and an "incentive" of citizenship, perhaps in 10 to 12 years.
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