McCain, Coons unveil bipartisan immigration plan

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators unveiled a bipartisan compromise on immigration on Monday that would protect young "Dreamer" immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children and would also boost security on the Mexican border.

But President Donald Trump appeared to dismiss the plan immediately, saying any deal should provide funding for his long-promised Mexican border wall, and blaming Democrats for the impasse over immigration.

The proposal by John McCain, a Republican, and Chris Coons, a Democrat, is narrower in scope than a plan Trump put forward last month, which was resisted by both hardline Republicans and Democrats.

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It does not offer a sweeping overhaul of the immigration system and does not include funding for the wall, but calls for a way for Dreamers to avoid deportation and earn citizenship, while also bolstering border security. The legislation would rely on a variety of tools, not just a physical wall, for securing the southern U.S. border.

"The bill ... does address the two most pressing problems we face: protecting DACA recipients and securing the border," Coons said in a joint statement with McCain.

The Dreamers were previously protected from deportation under Democratic former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

DACA had been set to expire on March 5 after Trump canceled the program last fall and asked Congress to come up with a legislative solution by this date. But a federal court last month blocked the Trump administration from ending the program, and the administration's appeal is now pending before the Supreme Court.

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The McCain-Coons plan, which mirrors similar bipartisan legislation introduced in the House of Representatives last month, was expected to be formally introduced later on Monday.

The proposal comes as the Republican-controlled Congress seeks to avert a federal government shutdown when current funding expires on Thursday.

U.S. lawmakers have so far failed to pass a long-term budget deal, instead relying on a series of short-term fixes that have been increasingly entangled with wrangling over immigration. Failure to agree on an immigration fix led to a three-day shutdown of government agencies last month.

Trump has said that any immigration deal must include billions of dollars to build the border wall. At the same time he has given mixed messages about the future of the hundreds of thousands of DACA participants.

"Any deal on DACA that does not include STRONG border security and the desperately needed WALL is a total waste of time. March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Dems seem not to care about DACA. Make a deal!" the president said in a tweet on Monday.

While the McCain-Coons plan does not include funding for the border wall, Coons said on Monday he thought there was still enough support among both Democrats and Republicans to pass it, noting that the House bill has attracted 27 Republican and another 27 Democratic lawmakers co-sponsoring it.

Trump could veto legislation that he deemed unacceptable if it were passed by both chambers of Congress. That would likely ignite a congressional battle over whether to overturn his veto. (Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Frances Kerry)

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