Republicans could lose US House next year: Bannon
WASHINGTON: Republican infighting over the fate of immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children could be so vitriolic that the party loses control of the US House of Representatives next year, Mr Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, said in an interview aired on Sunday.
Mr Bannon, whose far-right views on immigration, climate and trade helped shape Mr Trump's presidential campaign and his first months in office, was fired by the Republican president last month in a push to end factional fights within the White House.
In an interview with the CBS programme 60 Minutes, Bannon predicted Republicans could lose control in the House in next year's congressional elections because of a looming battle over what to do about 800,000 immigrants known as "Dreamers".
Mr Trump said last week he would scrap a programme called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) that allowed young immigrants to live and work in America.
Mr Bannon supported ending the programme, which was put in place by Democratic former President Barack Obama.
Mr Trump gave the Republican-controlled Congress six months to come up with an alternative, saying he would "revisit this issue" if lawmakers could not agree.
"I'm worried about losing the House now because of this," Mr Bannon told CBS. "If this goes all the way down to its logical conclusion, in February and March it will be a civil war inside the Republican Party."- REUTERS
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