Trump echoes Tom Cotton as immigration position questions mount

President Trump has been sounding like Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on immigration lately, even as some longtime supporters worry he is going soft on the issue.

Ever since a White House dinner with Democratic congressional leaders earlier this month, there have been questions about where Trump's immigration loyalties lie.

Would Trump prefer to cut a deal with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., betraying the Steve Bannon/Ann Coulter wing of his base but delivering a legislative fix for young illegal immigrants that eluded former President Obama? Or is he aligned with a group of congressional immigration hawks, led by Cotton?

Trump has given a few clues. He has strongly signaled that he would like Congress to legalize those protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which Obama created by executive order after he failed to get legislation passed. But he has also been echoing Cotton's arguments against "chain migration" — the process by which one group of immigrants sponsors foreign relatives to enter the United States.

Cotton has come out in favor of legalization as part of a DACA deal. But he also wants to reduce incentives for future illegal immigration and prevent the bill from morphing into a broader amnesty. So Cotton has suggested pairing DACA with his RAISE Act, a proposal to limit family reunification, create a point system for employment-based immigration and cut the number of green cards issued overall.