Republicans left baffled as Trump backtracks on opposition to immigration bill

Republicans had been counting on the president's support for the measure

House Republicans were left pondering their next move amid mixed signals from Donald Trump on an immigration compromise.

Days after an immigration bill crafted by moderate and farther-right Republicans began to circulate with the support of Republican leader Paul Ryan, Donald Trump said during an appearance on Fox & Friends that he would not back the legislation and instead supported a more conservative bill with a slimmer chance of passing.

“I’m looking at both of them,” Mr Trump said. “I certainly would not sign the more moderate one”.

The president’s rejection upended plans by Republican leadership to bring the compromise bill to a vote next week, with a member responsible for helping to corral votes saying legislators would not act without the Mr Trump’s support.

“We want to get clarity on the president’s position on this bill,” Rep Patrick McHenry of North Carolina told reporters. “Republicans are not going to take on immigration without the support and endorsement of President Trump”.

Adding to the confusion, the White House later said Mr Trump had misunderstood the question and would support both measures.

Earlier in the week, Mr Ryan reportedly reassured his caucus in a closed-door meeting that Mr Trump would support the measure, telling reporters that the “last thing I want to do is bring a bill out of here that I know the president won’t support.”

Some Republicans have been clamouring for a vote on immigration legislation before critical November midterm elections, with a bloc of moderate Republicans who face tough re-election campaigns pushing to resolve the status of so-called “Dreamers” - immigrants who were brought to the country when they were young and are here illegally.

Mr Trump moved last year to dissolve an Obama-era programme that offered Dreamers legal status, and while he has expressed sympathy for the hundreds of thousands of people thrown into limbo as a result he has insisted that any solution must include fortified border security and, potentially, funding for a border wall with Mexico.

The compromise measure hammered out by centrist Republicans and more conservative members would open up a path to citizenship for Dreamers and allocate $25bn for constructing the wall. It would also end a diversity visa lottery and curtail family-based migration, two mechanisms that Mr Trump has condemned as he has advocated a shift towards a more skills-based system.

While Democrats have said they would agree to a bill that addressed Dreamers and allocated some money for border security, the bill’s hefty outlay for the wall - which would represent the first significant funding commitment from Congress - and its restrictions on legal migration make it a nonstarter for many Democrats.

The immigration debate has also illuminated fractures within the Republican caucus, with farther-right members aligned with Mr Trump’s rhetoric clashing with more moderate legislators. Critics have lambasted the compromise measure for offering “amnesty” to Dreamers, reflecting a long-held position that offering legal status to people who are in the country unlawfully will encourage more illegal immigration.