President Trump's allies are turning on him for offering a pathway to citizenship for more than 1.8million Dreamers.

Right-wing news website Breitbart, formerly run by Trump's ex-chief strategist Steve Bannon, branded the president 'Amnesty Don' for making the offer.

In exchange for provide a pathway to citizenship for more than 1.8 million illegal immigrants who were brought to the country as children, Trump expects $25 billion in guaranteed funding for his U.S.-Mexico border wall.

But the deal has gone down badly with Trump-aligned candidates from Nevada and Virginia, who rejected the notion outright.

Outside groups who cheered the hard-line rhetoric that dominated Trump's campaign warned of a fierce backlash against the president's party in November's midterm elections.

President Trump's allies are turning on him for offering a pathway to citizenship for more than 1.8million Dreamers

Right-wing news website Breitbart, formerly run by Trump's ex-chief strategist Steve Bannon, branded the president 'Amnesty Don' for making the offer

'There's a real potential for disaster,' said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the far-right Center for Immigration Studies.

'The president hasn't sold out his voters yet. But I think it's important that his supporters are making clear to him that they're keeping an eye on him.'

The figure of more than 1.8million immigrants that could be offered a route to US citizenship usmore than twice the number of people already protected from deportation by the Obama-era 'Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals' (DACA) program.

The public scolding was aimed at a president who has change course under pressure before. Yet Trump has faced no greater test on a more significant issue than this one, which dominated his outsider candidacy and inspired a coalition of working-class voters that fueled his unlikely rise. Now, barely a year into his presidency, Trump can bend either to the will of his fiery base or the pressure to govern and compromise.

His leadership may determine the fate of hundreds of thousands of young immigrants and whether his party can improve its standing among a surging group of Hispanic voters. It may also alienate those who love him most.

'There's a Trump movement. And It's not necessarily about Donald Trump,' said Corey Stewart, a Republican Senate candidate in Virginia and a vocal Trump ally. 'It's about the things that Donald Trump campaigned and stood for during his campaign. Ultimately, every elected leader needs to stay true to the message that they ran on, otherwise people will leave them.'

President Donald Trump is set to extend a citizenship path to 1.8 million young illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, a dramatic concession on immigration that's more than twice as generous as Barack Obama's 'DACA' program

The passionate response underscores the Republican Party's immigration dilemma in the age of Trump.

Much of the country, including independents and moderate Republicans, favor protections for thousands of young people brought to the country as children illegally and raised here through no fault of their own. But a vocal conservative faction emboldened by Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric will never accept anything viewed as 'amnesty.' And many view legal protection for these young immigrants as just that.

Trump's proposal includes billions for border security and significant changes to legal immigration long sought by hard-liners. Several Democrats and immigration activists rejected it outright. But his supporters' focus on 'amnesty' for Dreamers highlights how dug in the base is and how little room Trump has to maneuver.

The president told reporters this week that he favored a pathway to citizenship for those immigrants, embracing a notion he once specifically rejected. Legal protection for roughly 700,000 immigrants enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, has emerged as the driving priority for Democrats, who forced a government shutdown over this issue last week. The businessman president appears to have set out to cut a deal.

Jill Carlson, a member of Columbia County Indivisible, held a sign on Thursday expressing her views on DACA outside Congressman Louis Barletta's local office in Hazleton, Pennsylvania

President Barack Obama introduced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012, a plan that protected more than 700,000 illegal immigrants from deportation – and instead of rolling it back, Trump is willing to dramatically expand it

'It is concerning why anyone would attempt to repeat history by granting amnesty,' said Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who is mulling a primary challenge against Republican Sen. Roger Wicker. McDaniel likened the Trump proposal to the 'amnesty' granted in 1986 immigration overhaul backed by President Ronald Reagan.

Such a policy, he said, would harm American workers and 'invite more illegals,' while emboldening liberals in future debates. Making a deal now would ensure that a future Congress will be 'held hostage by open border advocates.'

In Virginia, Stewart said 'any amnesty, including an extension of DACA,' would lead to a 'humanitarian crisis' at the border and could draw millions of new immigrants into the country illegally.

'I'm not happy about it,' he said.

In Nevada, where Trump loyalty is the centerpiece of Republican Danny Tarkanian's primary challenge against Sen. Dean Heller, Tarkanian also broke from the president.

'It's his decision,' Tarkanian said of Trump. 'But I don't believe we should grant citizenship to people who have come to the country illegally.'

He would, however, support permanent legal status for children who entered the country illegally, but said he draws the line at citizenship.

THE FRAMEWORK: This one-page summary released by the White House outlines the give-and-take Trump's team expects from Congress in order to rework America's immigration system

White House senior domestic policy adviser Stephen Miller told lawmakers, Trump expects $25 billion in guaranteed funding for his U.S.-Mexico border wall and other border security enhancements – including some on the U.S.-Canadian border.

The result, Miller said, is 'a compromise position that we believe ... will get 60 votes in the Senate,' and 'ultimately will lead to passage of a law.'

An NBC reporter and several congressional aides disclosed that Miler led the briefing, shortly after the call was concluded.

Trump has previously ruled out the idea of allowing DACA recipients to walk a pathway toward full equality in the United States, saying in September that he was 'not looking at amnesty. We're looking at allowing people to stay here.'

The border wall was among Trump's most loudly touted and oft-repeated campaign promises.

In keeping with precedent on Capitol Hill, the White House is calling the $25 billion cash infusion a 'trust fund' that the Department of Homeland Security could spend on border protection – and that Congress can't divert for other purposes.

Trump's larger immigration reform proposal also includes a plan to limit 'chain migration,' the legal sponsorship of visas by extended family members who already have legal residency status.

Pro-DACA protesters are a common sight on Capitol Hill, and at the White House, including this group egged on by Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin on Sunday – but it may be a Republican president who answers their pleas

Currently practically unlimited across two generations of family members, the policy would shrink eligibility to immediate family members – spouses and minor children.

Trump's package would also put an end to a 'diversity visa lottery' system that recruits legal immigrants – largely at random – on the sole basis of their countries of origin.

Started in 1999, the program's intent was to allow people to enter the United States who were from nations typically 'underrepresented' among the domestic population.

Trump has seized on the lottery as the root cause of death and destruction, citing a man who entered the U.S. under its umbrella and then was accused of plowing a truck through a crowd of New York City pedestrians and cyclists, killing eight.

The expanded citizenship allowance for so-called 'DREAMers' matches exactly a plank in a comprehensive reform proposal promoted by a 'Gang of Six' senators, led by Republicans Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake, and Democrat Dick Durbin.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday that their overall package was unacceptable to the president and should be considered 'dead on arrival.'

That Gang of Six proposal would have offered an amnesty to about 3 million people who fit loosely under the definition of 'DREAMers,' leaning in the direction of Democrats who aim to wrap as many illegal immigrants as possible into a potential amnesty.

Republicans, on the other hand, have traditionally focused on border security.

Illegal immigrants and their supporters demonstrated last year in front of the White House after Trump said he would end DACA unless Congress acted to save it

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a noncommittal statement after the conference call that he hoped both Republicans and Democrats 'will look to this framework for guidance as they work towards an agreement.'

Trump leapt back into the immigration debate Wednesday afternoon before jetting off to the World economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, telling reporters in an impromptu meeting that he would support citizenship for DACA recipients 'over a period of 10 to 12 years.'

Miller on Thursday told congressional aides that this represented 'the most substantial concession' the White House would offer to Democrats.

'The president has indicated a willingness to extend citizenship to 1.8 million individuals as part of this immigration reform package,' a senior administration official said.

'That would be the DACA population, plus individuals who failed to apply for DACA but otherwise met the requirements, as well as adjustments in time-frame that would bring the total maximum population size to 1.8 million.'

Reactions among Republicans in Congress were mixed.

One senior GOP aide who was on the call told DailyMail.com: 'If he can actually push this across the finish line, it will change everything Americans thought they knew about immigrants and immigration, and Republicans will be the team that actually pulled off the Hail Mary.'

Another GOP aide offered a taunt to Chuck Schumer, the leader of Democrats in the Senate: 'Moral high ground, seized. Your move, Chuck.'

A Politico reporter, though, heard a different tune.

'This is the beginning of the end of the GOP majority in the House,' a Republican congressman told the journalist. 'In a year when the Democrats impeach Trump, we can point to this moment.'

Heritage Action, a conservative political committee, said in a statement that it wouldn't support 'any proposal that expands the amnesty-eligible population.'

Trump's proposal 'risks opening Pandora's box,' the group said, and 'should be a non-starter.'

Conservative Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton signaled that right-wingers might move toward Trump's position, calling his proposal 'generous and humane' as well as 'responsible'

BALL IN YOUR COURT: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he offered Trump his $25 billion last week before the government shutdown as an inducement to make DACA permanent, but now Trump has made him a counter offer that's far more ambitious

But Sen. Tom Cotton, a conservative from Arkansas, signaled that congressional right-wingers could warm to the White House's approach.

'The president's framework is generous and humane, while also being responsible,' Cotton said in a statement. 'It protects those eligible for DACA, who are here through no fault of their own. But it also will prevent us from ending up back here in five years by securing the border and putting an end to extended-family chain migration.'

'The president's willingness to grandfather everyone in the current immigrant backlog also shows he's serious about reaching a bipartisan solution,' he added.

Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, praised Trump's plan for protecting 'those who were brought here illegally through no fault of their own' while also beefing up the border so 'other young people don't find themselves in the same legal limbo in the future.'

Progressives and other Democrats lost no time in condemning Trump's proposal, and linking it with his controversial aide Miller.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutiérrez said: '$25 billion as ransom for Dreamers with cuts to legal immigration and increases to deportations doesn't pass the laugh test.'

Gutiérrez said Saturday in the midst of the government shutdown that he would support Trump's wall if the president would 'save' 800,000 DACA recipients from deportation.

'If that is what it is going to take to get 800,000 young men and women and give them a chance to live freely and openly in America, then I'll roll up my sleeves, I'll go down there with bricks and mortar and begin the wall,' he told CNN.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a liberal Democrat, tweeted that Trump's proposal is 'insulting'

'By ending DACA, @realdonaldtrump subjected 800k Dreamers to deportation,' Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted. 'Now he wants to hold them hostage to Steven Miller's anti-immigrant wish list. It's insulting.'

United We Dream, an advocacy group that supports citizenship for the DACA population, said in a statement: 'Let's call this proposal for what it is: a white supremacist ransom note.'

'Our fear, our pain, and our lives must not be used to shackle our parents and ban those seeking refuge; we must not be used to tear apart the moral fabric of this country,' the group added.

The White House expects to publicly unveil its proposal on Monday, a day before Trump delivers his first State of the Union Address.

A White House aide told DailyMail.com on Thursday that funding for Trump's wall is non-negotiable.

'You've been covering him long enough,' the aide said. 'You know he's not about to bend on the wall. And that's going to take a multi-year appropriation from Congress.'

Prototype U.S.-Mexico border walls were erected in San Diego, California last October, ready for evaluation and funding – if Trump can wheedle the money out of Congress

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders this week told people brought to the U.S. as minors – the illegal immigrants protected by DACA – that 'they should storm Capitol Hill and protest there' in order to force lawmakers to embrace a compromise that would help them

One aide familiar with Trump's thinking said Wednesday DACA recipients put into a citizenship queue would be vetted along the line of the requirement of a 'conservative DREAM Act' proposed last September by North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and other Republicans.

A rigorous background check would be mandatory, including biometric data and criminal database searches. Citizens-to-be under the proposal would also have to pay off any federal tax liabilities they have, and acknowledge that their immigration status can be terminated if they were convicted of a crime while they were protected by DACA.

The Tillis bill mentioned by the aide also called for a renewed background check at the five-year mark, and then another one when citizenship papers are finally submitted.

Other requirements would likely include earning a high school diploma, and then maintaining their 'conditional' status – and a green card – by either holding down a steady job, serving in the military, or graduating from college.

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders urged people brought to the U.S. as minors – the illegal immigrants protected by DACA – to 'storm Capitol Hill and protest there' in order to force lawmakers to embrace a compromise that would help them.