Trump calls for 'bill of love' allowing DACA recipients to remain

President Trump told a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday that he wants a bill to allow young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally to remain, saying that such a measure should be "a bipartisan bill of love" and that "we can do it."

Trump also said that he was open to a larger measure overhauling immigration laws, but that it made the most sense to first settle the Obama-era Deferred Action On Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, issue. Authority allowing for the so-called DREAMers covered by the measure to remain in the country expires March 5.

The president met with lawmakers for nearly an hour. The session was unusual in that a small pool of reporters was allowed to remain for the duration, an apparent effort to rebut one of the premises of the best-selling book Fire and Fury: Inside The Trump White House, which portrays the president as in over his head and possibly mentally unfit for office.

Trump talked about how the current system in Congress doesn't lend itself to getting anything done. The president said there was so much anger and hostility in Congress that lawmakers should consider bringing back earmarks, the pork-barrel spending that GOP leaders outlawed, seen by many as one of the prime components of the "swamp" Trump campaigned against.

As to what sort of immigration legislation he would approve, Trump said that he was reliant on lawmakers and that even if they produced legislation he wasn't "in love with," he would still support it. He also said he would take the heat for both Republicans and Democrats if they get criticism over a compromise immigration measure, adding that his "whole life has been heat" and that to a certain extent he prefers it that way.

In remarks afterward, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., threw cold water on the idea of a stand-alone DACA bill, saying Democrats have "little faith" that the measure will win approval unless it is attached to a must-pass bill. Schumer wants DACA legislation attached to a spending bill needed to keep the government open.

The conservative Club for Growth immediately criticized the possibility of again allowing special-interest earmarks.

"If Republicans bring back earmarks, then it virtually guarantees that they will lose the House," said the the group's president, David McIntosh. Earmarks are an issue that John McCain campaigned on and against as the Republican nominee in the 2008 presidential election. He largely won the argument in Washington, leading to the practice's retirement.

The president also addressed the issue of a border wall with Mexico, saying the U.S. needs one "in certain areas obviously that aren't protected by nature" and where existing fences are in bad shape and need to be fixed or rebuilt.

But Trump also said, "There are large areas where you don't need a wall."

And on the potential presidential candidacy of Oprah Winfrey, Trump said, "Yeah, I'll beat Oprah. Oprah would be a lot of fun. I know her very well. You know I did one of her last shows."

He added, "I like Oprah; I don't think she's gonna run."

Speaking of one of her last shows, this was Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. on Winfrey's show in 2009. Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.