Washington, DC - The Administration strongly opposes passage of the Schumer-Rounds-Collins Amendment.  This Amendment would drastically change our national immigration policy for the worse by weakening border security and undercutting existing immigration law.  Specifically, preventing enforcement with respect to people who entered our country illegally before a date that is in the future would produce a flood of new illegal immigration in the coming months.  The Amendment would undermine the safety and security of American families and impede economic growth for American workers.

The Administration continues to insist on a safe, modern, and legal immigration system for the benefit of the American people.  The essential pillars of such a system are securing the border through building the physical border wall and closing legal loopholes, protecting the nuclear family by limiting sponsorships to spouses and children, cancelling the visa lottery, and implementing a lasting solution on DACA.

The Administration is committed to finding a permanent, fair, and legal solution for DACA.  But this Amendment would only compound the problem by encouraging millions of additional minors to be smuggled into the United States.  We need to solve the problem, not perpetuate it indefinitely.

The vitality of the American economy and the safety and security of the American people depend upon these reforms.  The Administration cannot support the Schumer-Rounds-Collins Amendment because it is not only dangerous policy that will harm the Nation, but it also fails to deliver on the clear promise the Administration has made to the American people.

If the President were presented with an enrolled bill that includes the Amendment, his advisors would recommend that he veto it.