ABC This Week interviews during 2020: on Immigration

Donald Trump: We want more people to come, via legal merit system

TRUMP: We are doing something with immigration that I think is going to be very strong because we want people to come into our country. We want people to come into our country. We want them to come in--a lot of people--but we want them to come in through a legal system. Through a system that they work to come into our country. A merit system and we're working on something very hard right now. And in a very short time we're going to be announcing it. And I think it's going to have quite an impact. I think it's going to be something that actually will be popular for all.

Jeff Flake: Replace family separation with monitored release

FLAKE: That's a House bill [that allows longer detention with family separation]. I think the Flores decision will stand [disallowing holding children in custory]. And so I think another solution has to come.

Q: Aren't you working with Senator Tillis on legislation that will allow families to be held beyond 20 days?

FLAKE: Oh, yes, I'm sorry; [there's also] House legislation. With the Tillis legislation, we envision some other form like monitored release, with ankle bracelets. Case management is still difficult, but it's far better than indefinite detention of families because some of these cases can go for a long time.

Q: And are you fairly certain that the courts will strike down the president's executive order [allowing family separation]?

FLAKE: Yes, yes.

Q: So what happens next?

FLAKE: I mean, Congress has to fix this

Lindsey Graham: No northern border wall, yet there's no illegal Canadians

GRAHAM: Well, he'll be the third president to do so. But you're not going to secure a border just by adding National Guard troops. You got to go to the root cause of this. The [refugee migrant] caravans come from the triangle countries, Honduras and Guatemala in particular because the conditions are so bad. If you don't have comprehensive immigration reform, you will never fix this problem. We have two borders, one with Canada, one with Mexico. I've never met an illegal Canadian. The point is that Canada has a sound economy, people from the south of us do not have sound economies and if you don't fix the economic magnet, you'll never solve the immigration problem. So building a wall alone won't do anything.

Lindsey Graham: DACA recipients came here at age; this is their home

GRAHAM: The court is probably going to rule for the president down the road that he can terminate DACA. That creates some chaos for the DACA recipients who came here on the average age of 6 with nowhere else to go. This is their country. There's a deal to take care of them and get the border wall we desperately need, plus interior enforcement, to make us safer.

Q: And you feel confident that will go through?

GRAHAM: I'm hopeful it will because if we fail, it's just a disaster for the DACA recipients and for our national security. And 70 percent of the American people want us to do both. It may fail, but I believe we owe it to the American people to try again. And I'm going to try again. And I think the president is open-minded to trying again.

Jeff Flake: Get rid of visa lottery & chain migration

FLAKE: Well, in this compromise, we do get rid of the visa lottery program. But we allocate those visas to a couple of different programs, like TPS or temporary protected status. But there is broad agreement to get rid of the visa lottery. There's also agreement between us, the Republicans and the Democrats, that we do get rid of chain migration as it relates to the covered population. Those who benefit from this DACA bill will not be able to use chain migration to become citizens. We just don't do it for everybody, like the president wants to do. If we want a comprehensive bill, I'm all in.