{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/in-the-news?ContentRecord_id=B9C76556-2164-43B3-9D9F-1F5755A8E27C", "The Arizona Republic: Roberts: Is Donald Trump 'big' enough to listen to Jeff Flake?", "2016-12-13", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "Jeff Flake", "F000444", "www.flake.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "By Laurie RobertsDec. 13, 2016\r\nDonald Trump may not realize it but Jeff Flake just did him a favor.\r\nTrump has, of late, hinted that he may be softening his \u201cdeport \u2018em all\u201d stance on \"dreamers,\" those young immigrants brought here illegally as children.\r\nDuring the campaign, Trump promised to \u201cimmediately terminate\u201d Barack Obama\u2019s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which offers qualified dreamers temporary protection from deportation.\u00a0 About 1.2 million dreamers, including about 50,000 in Arizona, have been approved for DACA since Obama created the program in 2012.\r\nTrump could (read: will) wipe it out next month with a simple signature -- just as Obama created it with one -- making DACA recipients ineligible to work, drive or qualify for in-state tuition in Arizona.\r\nThat would (read: will) delight the baser elements of Trump\u2019s base \u2013 the ones who seem to think these young immigrants are all punks ... or worse.\r\nYet polls show that most Americans support allowing a legal pathway for dreamers to remain.\r\n'We're going to work something out'Last week, Trump reiterated his pledge to end DACA, a program that Republicans have universally decried as an illegal executive order. But he went on to hold out hope for the possibility of a more reasoned, humane policy than his earlier \u201cdeport \u2018em all\u201d approach.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to work something out that\u2019s going to make people happy and proud,\u201d he told Time. \u201cThey got brought here at a very young age, they\u2019ve worked here, they\u2019ve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they\u2019re in never-never land because they don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d\r\nNow here comes one of Trump\u2019s fiercest Republican critics with what that \u201csomething\u201d could be \u2013 both to get dreamers out of never-never land and to keep Trump out of hot water with his supporters.\r\nFlake is introducing a bill that would protect dreamers from deportation for three years. But it also would give undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes a quick heave-ho out of the country.\r\nIn other words, dreamers could remain though an act of Congress (read: not an executive order).\r\nAnd the Department of Homeland Security would be forced to hold and quickly deport undocumented immigrants convicted of serious crimes \u2013 the ones we all want to get gone \u2013 rather than releasing them onto the streets.\r\nMeet Apolinar, poster boy for the billFlake even handed Trump a poster boy for the bill: Apolinar Altamirano.\r\nAltamirano was an undocumented immigrant and a convicted felon, awaiting his deportation hearing in 2015 when police say he went into a Mesa QuikTrip and killed 21-year-old Grant Ronnebeck over a pack of cigarettes.\r\nAltamirano had previously been convicted of burglary and turned over to ICE in January 2013. ICE released him to await his deportation hearing. Two years later, he was still waiting.\r\nTragically, the only way to get this criminal off the streets was over Grant Ronnebeck's dead body. While the Obama administration has said the deportation of criminals is its highest priority, tens of thousands of convicted felons awaiting deportation hearings were released by ICE.\r\nUnder Flake\u2019s Securing Active and Fair Enforcement Act, Altamirano would have been held and deported within 90 days.\r\nWill Trump give the bill a serious look?Flake\u2019s bill makes sense. It goes after criminals. It protects those whose only crime is wanting to live here and contribute to the only country many of them have ever known.\r\nIt makes him look tough on illegal immigration yet reasonable when it comes to the most sympathetic group of undocumented immigrants.\r\n\u201cIt threads the needle between compassion for those brought into the U.S. illegally through no fault of their own and swift justice for dangerous foreign criminals,\u201d Flake said.\r\nOf course, there is one major downside to the proposal. It comes from Jeff Flake, one of the few Republicans who refused to back Trump.\r\nFortunately, we all know that Trump doesn\u2019t hold a grudge, so I\u2019m guessing Flake\u2019s bill will get a serious look.\r\nAt least, it should.Click here\u00a0to view the original article.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/in-the-news?ContentRecord_id=B9C76556-2164-43B3-9D9F-1F5755A8E27C"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5431661158800125, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}