Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
This afternoon, President Donald Trump is expected to propose an deal that would exchange $5.7 billion in border wall funding for his support of the BRIDGE Act, which would extend protections to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and give temporary protective status for refugees. The proposal marks the latest attempt to end the partial government shutdown, which is entering its fifth week. But even before Trump has officially proposed the plan, it’s getting a rocky response, especially from Democrats.
Congressional aides told the New York Times that House Democrats haven’t been consulted on the plan and would only negotiate with Trump once the government is reopened.
Dear @realDonaldTrump: Thank you for your concessions. Democrats look forward to working with you on a comprehensive immigration bill that includes DACA. But we can't do that in a shutdown. We will never allow a shutdown as a negotiating tactic. Need to reopen government first. https://t.co/eAV6byDXxB
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 19, 2019
Senior House D aide shrugs off Trump proposal
‘This is not a compromise as it includes the same wasteful, ineffective $5.7 billion wall demand that shut down the government in the first place.
This cannot pass the House or Senate.’
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) January 19, 2019
Others noted that under the current law, Dreamers who renew their DACA permits in nine months already get two more years of protection.
Lawyer alert: The Supreme Court, yesterday, decided to not take the DACA case, leaving DACA in place for at least another year
Trump offering to extend DACA for a year is like me offering to not lasso the moon. He’s offering to allow something he can’t stop anyway#TrumpShutdown
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) January 19, 2019
Wait: Trump wants to trade a PERMANENT wall for THREE YEARS of protection for Dreamers (the Bridge Act), with no protection after that (let alone a path to citizenship)? That's a crazy deal.
— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) January 19, 2019
The expected proposal also got pushback from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an anti-immigrant group, which seemed to equate the extension of DACA protections as “amnesty”:
Think the border crisis is bad now? Wait until after another amnesty. Why is @realDonaldTrump turning a battle over our sovereignty into giving benefits to illegal aliens?
— FAIR (@FAIRImmigration) January 19, 2019
Trump’s speech, which was originally scheduled for 3p.m. Eastern, has been bumped back to 4p.m.
