Florida Rep. Carlos Giménez urges President Trump to “normalize” longtime immigrants, citing DACA example

Florida Republican Rep. Carlos Giménez said President Donald Trump should seek to “normalize” longtime immigrants who have built lives in the United States, while maintaining that people with serious criminal or gang records should not be allowed to remain in the country. Giménez made the remarks during an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday as the Trump administration faces political and operational fallout from expanded removals of noncitizens, according to The Hill.

Giménez said he does not believe “anybody wants criminals to be here” or “gang members” to be here, and he framed his comments around the idea that the United States should not treat all longtime residents facing deportation the same way. He said people with “active deportation orders” should not necessarily be automatically included in any normalization effort, while longtime residents should be considered differently, he said.

As an example, Giménez pointed to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which he described as a way to protect eligible immigrants from deportation who were brought to the country as children and who were in the United States without lawful status. He said DACA has involved people who have “been here for years” and have been working and are part of their communities, arguing the government should find a solution that reduces the long-term uncertainty for that population.

Giménez said normalization does not necessarily mean that people would become citizens immediately. Instead, he said the goal would be to allow eligible residents to come out of “the shadows,” pay taxes, and live without the “fear” of being taken away after decades in the country and without the kind of family separation that can follow removals.

In his remarks, Giménez also emphasized the practical legal structure of DACA. He said DACA recipients receive lawful status and work authorization, both of which must be renewed every two years. His comments echoed the recurring political question of what happens to longtime residents whose status depends on a program that can change through executive action and enforcement priorities.

The Hill reported that Giménez urged Democrats and Republicans to work together to reach a solution for long-term residents who have been living in the United States for years and whose future status remains uncertain amid an increased focus on removals for noncitizens nationwide. In that framing, he argued for a policy approach that separates public-safety concerns from the circumstances of people who have integrated into the U.S. economy and community life over time.

Giménez’s comments add to the broader congressional debate over immigration enforcement that has intensified since the Trump administration increased removal efforts for noncitizens, while also highlighting a familiar point of dispute: how federal authorities should implement immigration law and enforcement priorities while accounting for long-term ties, work history, and family life for residents who are not yet on a path to citizenship. The remarks did not outline specific legislation in the interview.

In the meantime, DACA remains governed by eligibility rules and renewal requirements tied to the program’s executive framework. Giménez’s call for “normalization” centers on changing the long-run treatment of certain longtime residents, while he separately said that people he characterized as serious criminal threats, including gang members, should not be part of any such approach.