Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D.Y., said Friday he opposes President Trump’s new immigration proposal, and accused the president of using Dreamers to “tear apart our legal immigration system.”

“As we have been urging him to do for months, the president has finally put pen to paper to show us where he stands on immigration. Unfortunately, this plan flies in the face of what most Americans believe,” Schumer tweeted Friday.

“While @realDonaldTrump finally acknowledged that the Dreamers should be allowed to stay here and become citizens, he uses them as a tool to tear apart our legal immigration system and adopt the wish list that anti-immigration hardliners have advocated for for years,” the minority leader continued.

As we have been urging him to do for months, the President has finally put pen to paper to show us where he stands on immigration. Unfortunately, this plan flies in the face of what most Americans believe. 1/2 — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 26, 2018

While @realDonaldTrump finally acknowledged that the Dreamers should be allowed to stay here and become citizens, he uses them as a tool to tear apart our legal immigration system and adopt the wish list that anti-immigration hardliners have advocated for for years. 2/2 — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 26, 2018



The White House released the president’s framework for immigration reform Thursday. The plan creates a path to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants who came to the United States illegally when they were children.

But Trump’s proposal also calls for $25 billion for his wall across the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as other security enhancements, and limits chain migration to spouses and minor children. Additionally, the plan ends the visa lottery system.

It's those details that congressional Democrats oppose, and have denounced as a radical change to U.S. immigration policy.

“Dreamers should not be held hostage to President Trump’s crusade to tear families apart and waste billions of American tax dollars on an ineffective wall,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a key player in the negotiations for an immigration deal, said Thursday.

But the president’s plan has won over Republican leaders and those supportive of strong border security measures.

“The president’s framework is generous and humane, while also being responsible,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., 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.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders shot back at Schumer's criticisms of Trump's immigration plan and accused the senator of favoring open borders and sanctuary cities.

"Actually @SenSchumer America's legal immigration system has been torn apart for decades by Washington politicians like yourself who prefer open borders & sanctuary cities over law & order and popular, common sense reforms," she tweeted.