Democrats Reject Trump’s Compromises On Immigration Intended To End Government Shutdown
Congressional Democrats are, by and large, rejecting Donald Trump’s offer to compromise on some key immigration issues in exchange for money for his proposed border wall, the Chicago Tribune is reporting.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, on Saturday Trump offered Democrats two key compromises on his generally hard-line immigration policy, in an effort to bring Democrats to the negotiating table to end the government shutdown, now nearing its fourth week.
Specifically, the proposal, supposedly drafted with the help of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Vice President Mike Pence, would have extended protections to so-called “Dreamers,” that is, undocumented immigrant children who were brought here illegally with their parents. It also would have extended protection to some undocumented immigrant adults under Temporary Protected Status.
As it turns out, the proposals were greeted with utter disinterest by Washington Democrats.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, for example, dismissed the compromise offers as old news, initiatives that have already been discussed in Congress and gone nowhere.
“What is original in the President’s proposal is not good. What is good in the proposal is not original.”
Similarly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the proposals “hostage-taking,” saying that Trump was simply trying to offer a ray of hope to immigrants whose future he himself has cast into doubt.
“Open up the government, Mr. President, and then Democrats and Republicans can have a civil discussion and come up with bipartisan solutions.”
With a combined 70 years of service on Capitol Hill, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are the experienced, old school pols that many Democrats want leading them against a volatile president https://t.co/FjuxE2Dv8B
— POLITICO (@politico) January 20, 2019
By most measures, Trump’s compromise offer is almost certainly doomed from the start. It’s unlikely to get 60 votes needed to pass the Senate, writes the Tribune, and two Senators who are viewed as bridges between Trump and the Democrats — Chris Coons of Delaware and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — aren’t on board.
Despite Trump’s offer of a compromise, the sticking point remains the $5.7 billion Trump continues to demand for his proposed border wall. Democrats are steadfastly refusing to provide that money, insisting that current methods of patrolling the border and keeping out illegal immigrants need to run their course. Trump, for his part, has refused to sign any bill that does not include the border wall funding, leading to the current impasse that has shut down the government.
Trump has made the border wall one of the central points of his agenda ever since announcing his candidacy for president. He initially promised that Mexico would pay for it, something that the Mexicans have rejected outright, and he has turned to Congress to fund it instead. Trump’s first budget included no money for a border wall, but rather a few hundred million earmarked for repairs and improvements to existing sections of the border fence.
