U.S. DEMOCRAT PELOSI GIVES 8HOUR SPEECH ON ‘DREAMERS’

WASHINGTON: US House minority leader Nancy Pelosi staged a record-breaking, eight-hour speech on Wednesday in hopes of pressuring Republicans to allow a vote on protecting “Dreamer” immigrants — and to demonstrate to angry progressives and Democratic activists that she has done all she could.

Pelosi, 77, spent much of the rare talkathon reading personal letters from the young immigrants whose temporary protection from deportation is set to expire next month. She quoted from the Bible and Pope Francis, as Democrats took turns sitting behind her in support. The Office of the House Historian said it was the longest continuous speech in the chamber on record.

“You see, these people are being deported,” Pelosi said around hour six. “We can do something today to at least make whole the children.”

Her remarks seemed partly aimed at the liberal wing of her party, who seethed as Senate Democrats cut a budget deal with Republicans that could steal the momentum behind the effort to resolve the Dreamers’ plight.

The wide-ranging budget accord says nothing about renewing the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, which temporarily shields Dreamers — illegal immigrants brought to the US as children — from deportation. President Donald Trump has moved to annul DACA.