President Trump told a bipartisan group of senators during a private White House meeting Thursday that he would consider reviewing a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration bill like the one that the Senate passed in 2013 that provides a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already living in the United States, according to a Democratic senator.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who attended the Thursday afternoon meeting with Trump, told NBC News that Trump is “open to reviewing” the controversial bill. However, Trump also made it clear that he is “totally opposed” to amnesty, which is how many Republicans described the bill.
A spokesman for Manchin initially indicated that Manchin was open to the specific “Gang of Eight” bill that drew strong opposition from House Republicans. But Manchin’s comments to NBC didn’t go that far.
Acceptance from Trump of the original “Gang of Eight” bill would amount to a major departure on immigration from his campaign threats to repeal President Obama’s executive order allowing illegal immigrants who had arrived in the country as children to remain here legally without fear of deportation.
Trump’s White House rejected reports that he was specifically open to the controversial bill that conservatives hated. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a Washington Post reporter only that he was “glad to listen” to their immigration plans, but that he didn’t make any comment specific to the Gang of Eight bill.
“I saw [Trump] yesterday and I have no reason to believe he’s changed his views on immigration,” a senior administration official told the Washington Examiner.
Besides Manchin and Alexander, other senators who attended the meeting include: Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Jon Tester of Montana, Chris Coons of Delaware, Michael Bennett of Colorado and GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.
This story was updated to include more recent comments from Manchin, who said only that Trump would “review” the bill.
