WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump urged Republican lawmakers on Friday to drop their efforts to pass comprehensive immigration legislation until after the November elections, which he hopes will boost the party's majority in Congress.
Trump, faced with a public outcry over his policy that separated children from their migrant parents at the U.S. border with Mexico, tried to refocus the immigration debate on Congress in a series of early morning posts on Twitter.
Despite Republican control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the party's slim 51-49 majority in the latter chamber makes some Democratic support necessary to pass most legislation. Trump has often chafed at this, which also leaves his party vulnerable to dissent by just one or two Republican senators.
"Elect more Republicans in November and we will pass the finest, fairest and most comprehensive Immigration Bills anywhere in the world," Trump said on Twitter.
"Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November. Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!" he said.
In fact, many analysts say the party could suffer losses this November, when all 435 House seats and a third of the 100-member Senate will be up for grabs.
Trump bowed to intense pressure on Wednesday and signed an order ending the separation of children from their families while parents are prosecuted for crossing the border illegally, which had caused uproar at home and abroad. He said then he still wanted Congress to pass a more comprehensive immigration bill.
The House on Thursday rejected a bill favored by conservatives that would have halted the practice of splitting up families and addressed a range of other immigration issues.
