Trump not fully informed about wall, aide says
John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, tells Democratic lawmakers that President Trump’s campaign promise to build a border wall was “not fully informed.”
White House chief of staff John Kelly told Democratic lawmakers Wednesday that the United States will never construct a physical wall along the entire stretch of the U.S.Mexico border and that some of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises on immigration were “uninformed.”
The comments put Kelly at odds with Trump, who repeatedly said during his presidential campaign that he would build a border wall that Mexico would pay for, not U.S. taxpayers.
Kelly met with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, at the U.S. Capitol.
During the meeting, Kelly repeatedly said that Trump supports enacting permanent legal protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and that he has helped the president evolve on immigration policy. But the meeting ended with no resolution to what exactly the administration wants in exchange for authorizing permanent legal protections for the at least 690,000 people enrolled in the program, according to several attendees.
“The president is committed to a permanent solution to DACA,” Kelly told the meeting.
This account of the meeting is based on notes taken by two lawmakers in the room that were confirmed by two more lawmakers in the room and one senior aide also in attendance. White House aides didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
As the meeting began, Kelly said he had asked to meet with the group at the urging of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has been in frequent contact with Kelly over the last several months.
Hoyer told Kelly later that the views expressed by lawmakers in the room is “the will of the Democratic Caucus” — a reminder that House Democrats overwhelmingly support protecting dreamers.
Kelly said that Hispanic Caucus members should be grateful that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program wasn’t ended immediately in September when Trump set a six-month expiration date for the program.
“I worked to get the sixmonth extension of DACA. I ordered that. I managed that. And everyone has thanked me for that,” he told the group.
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., asked Kelly to clarify Trump’s definition of a border wall.
“Certain things are said during the campaign that are not fully informed,” Kelly said.
“One thing is to campaign, another thing is to govern. It’s really hard,” he added later.
“A concrete wall from sea to shining sea” is not going to happen, Kelly said. Instead, “a physical barrier in many places” is what the administration is requesting.