‘Dreamers’ talks resume in D.C.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and House Republican leaders have reopened negotiations over the fate of young people in the country illegally and border security.

In a dayslong uprising, GOP moderates fearful of continued inaction ahead of the midterm elections employed a rarely used legislative maneuver to force House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and White House officials back to the negotiating table.

Overall the efforts Thursday have focused on a path to permanent residency for the hundreds of thousands of socalled Dreamers left in limbo after Trump canceled the program last year. Crucial to the discussions are ways to construct the U.S.-Mexico border wall that Trump promised repeatedly in the 2016 campaign.

This week, the president clamored to tighten laws to keep “animal” gang members out of the country, and he has threatened to spark a government shutdown barely a month before the election if the border wall isn’t funded.

“A vote for a Democrat in November is a vote for open borders and crime,” he said at a rally last month in Michigan.

But taking a vote on restrictive immigration policies could hand political ammunition to rivals of many GOP incumbents in swing districts whose success is critical to retaining the party’s House majority.

Ryan, who has announced plans to retire at the end of his term, said Thursday that his goal is legislation acceptable to Trump, Republicans and some Democrats, a type of compromise that has been rare in the GOP-led House.

Trump on Thursday defended his use of the word “animals” to describe some foreigners who enter the country illegally, saying he would continue to use the term to refer to violent gang members in spite of a rebuke from Democratic leaders.

Answering a reporter’s question during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump said his comment a day earlier had clearly been directed at members of the MS-13 gang.

“MS-13, these are animals coming onto our country,” Trump said, repeating his language from Wednesday. He added: “When the MS-13 comes in, when the other gang members come into our country, I refer to them as animals. And guess what? I always will.”

Trump has been under fire for the comments he made Wednesday while railing against California for its socalled sanctuary immigration policies. Trump was speaking at a round-table discussion with local California officials when he responded to a comment that had referenced MS-13.

“We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in — and we’re stopping a lot of them,” Trump said after Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims complained about state restrictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. “You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals.”