President Trump is holding a meeting with Cabinet officials at the White House on Thursday, a day after signing an executive order to end the administration’s policy of separating children from families being prosecuted for crossing the U.S. border illegally. Mr. Trump commended DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Wednesday at the order’s signing, saying she did a “great job” with her vigorous defense of the administration policy the past few weeks in the face of a nationwide outcry.
The meeting comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill are moving to vote on two immigration bills aiming to provide a legislative fix to the nation’s existing issues at the U.S. border. While the president’s order provides only temporary protection for families, Mr. Trump said on Wednesday that the White House would continue to press Congress to provide a more comprehensive solution for the nation’s outstanding immigration problems.
Nielsen on Thursday charged members of Congress to act and said that she looks forward to today’s vote.
“Congress has the authority and responsibility to make the law of the land and to fix the immigration system,” Nielsen said on Capitol Hill. She added, “We have done everything that we can do in within the executive branch to both secure our borders, uphold our ideals, and protect our communities. But we need Congress to act.”
House members will vote on two different bills on Thursday — the conservative Goodlatte immigration bill and the GOP compromise bill known as the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018, which Mr. Trump has pressed members to support.
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