AP source: Officials consider new penalty for visa overstays

WASHINGTON — Top administration officials have been discussing ways to increase pressure on countries with high numbers of citizens who overstay short-term visas, as part of President Donald Trump’s growing focus on immigration heading into his re-election campaign. The ideas have ranged from the extreme — including Trump’s threat to shut down the southern border and consideration of again separating children from parents — to more subtle tweaks to the legal immigration system, including efforts to clamp down on visa overstays, which, according to the nonpartisan Center for Migration Studies, exceed illegal border crossings. And White House aide Stephen Miller in particular has been pushing Homeland Security officials to move forward with plans to punish immigrants in the country legally for using public benefits, such as food stamps. Democrats on Monday demanded that White House and agency officials turn over internal documents on the administration’s deliberations over the sanctuary city plan. Trump, meanwhile, has insisted he has “the absolute legal right to have apprehended illegal immigrants transferred to Sanctuary Cities.” He continued to rail about the situation at the border during an appearance in Minnesota on Monday and made the case that the issue could be a winning one for Republicans in 2020, telling the crowd that the GOP could “retake the House” over this issue.