The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TRUMP’S SHUTDOWN DEAL: ‘DREAMER’ RELIEF FOR WALL
President: ‘Commonsense compromise both parties should embrace.’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump made a new offer Saturday to Democrats aimed at ending the partial government shutdown that would extend deportation protections for some immigrants in exchange for $5.7 billion in border wall funding.
Trump’s proposal is designed to pressure Democrats by offering a reprieve on his attempts to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and temporary protected status (TPS) for immigrants from some Latin American and African nations.
Under the new proposal, the administration would allow those programs to continue.
It would also grant hundreds of millions of dollars for humanitarian assistance and drug detection policy and call for the hiring of thousands of new law enforcement agents to be deployed on the southern border.
“This is a common-sense compromise both parties should embrace,” Trump said.
He then added: “The radical left can never control our borders. I will never let it happen.”
It’s not clear whether the offer would be enough to break an impasse that has resulted in 800,000 federal workers to be furloughed and numerous agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, to operate at minimal staffing levels.
The shutdown is the longest in U.S. government history.
Ahead of his remarks from the White House, Trump oversaw a naturalization ceremony in the Oval Office for five new Americans, who took the Oath of Allegiance from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
The event aimed to underscore Trump’s support of those who enter the country through legal immigration programs, even as his administration has supported policies to reduce overall immigration levels.
Democrats have been under pressure from immigrant rights organizations not to give Trump funding for a wall.
Trump’s offer would not provide a path to permanent legal status — or citizenship — many Democrats have sought in any immigration deal that would dramatically ramp up border security measures.
A senior House Democratic aide said Democrats were not consulted on the plan, which the aide said is “not a compromise” because it still includes Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border — the request that led to the shutdown.
Trump had indicated for weeks he would not entertain an extension of DACA, which began in 2012 under President Barack Obama and has offered renewable work permits to immigrants, known as “Dreamers,” who entered the country illegally as children.