Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) said Tuesday that lawmakers must regain the trust of the American people by providing legal protections to immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children while improving border security and reforming the immigration system.
Speaking to President Donald Trump at a bipartisan meeting in the White House, Cotton said problems with the immigration system have caused regular Americans to distrust the federal government. He said that both political parties, as well as both houses of Congress, need to work out a deal to regain the people's trust by securing the border, improving immigration protocols, and providing legal protections to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which temporarily protected immigrants who came to the country as children.
"I think on this issue there is a lack of trust and has been for many years," Cotton said. "A lack of trust between Republicans and Democrats, a lack of trust among Republicans, and most fundamentally a lack of trust between the American people and our elected leaders on not delivering the solution for many, many years about some of these problems."
Cotton sounded a hopeful note that officials can work together to provide common-sense solutions.
"I hope that this meeting can be the beginning of building trust between our parties, between the chambers—because I know for a fact all the Republicans around the table are committed to finding a solution, and I believe all the Democrats are as well," Cotton said.
Cotton affirmed the priorities Trump laid out in the meeting, which were border security, ending chain migration, and ending the diversity visa lottery.
"This is a good first step in building the trust we need for a good bill, Mr. President, that will achieve the objectives that you stated: providing legal protection for the DACA population while also securing our border and ending chain migration and the diversity lottery," Cotton said.
Cotton recently spoke about these priorities, specifically chain migration, on the Senate floor.