President Donald Trump made a daring move on Wednesday, mapping out the beginnings of a deal with Democratic minority leaders to save “Dreamers,” the young immigrants who were given temporary protections from DACA, the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals. That is a positive, compassionate move that should bring support from those who have worked hard to protect the 800,000 people who now live in daily fear of deportation from the only homeland they remember.
Trump will need all the support he can get, because establishment Republican leaders are already pushing back. House Speaker Paul Ryan said the morning after Trump’s dinner with Democrats that there was “no deal,” pointedly adding, “I think the president understands he has to work with the congressional majorities to get any kind of legislative solution.”
Ryan should understand that the president is putting him on notice. Above all else, Trump considers himself a dealmaker. He values “closers” — those who find a way to make things happen. He has become increasingly impatient with GOP leadership that, in his view, keeps flubbing the ball on health care, infrastructure, trade and now, immigration.
Buoyed by recent success with Democrats on averting a government shutdown over the debt limit, Trump has turned again to a couple of wily, hardened dealmakers: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. If what emerges is a package that enacts border security enhancements the country actually needs while giving DACA protections the permanence of law, that is the kind of bipartisan problem-solving Americans should applaud.
Trump has shaken up the political establishment in many unsettling ways since becoming president. We have disagreed with many of his decisions. But this is an example of where turning over the table may break the partisan gridlock that has kept this country from tackling the comprehensive immigration reform it so badly needs.