WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump addressed the nation this weekend to present a compromise on the current immigration impasse. The government shutdown is making a record run with each day that passes with out a solution, and both sides are dug in.
Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), are using their leverage as House majority to block even a single penny for increased border security, and seeking to pin all the shutdown blame on Trump. Republicans, led by the president, are holding their ground in an attempt to keep their promise to the American people for more security at the southern border.
Popular sentiment is that the two sides should reach a compromise, and reopen the government. So, that’s exactly what President Trump proposed on Saturday, offering an extension of temporary protected status for ‘Dreamers,’ along with temporary protections for some other immigrant groups, in exchange for border wall funding.
Seems reasonable, no? Well, Democrats dismissed the proposal before it was even uttered, demanding that the government be reopened first, and only then they will ‘negotiate.’ Basically, give up your leverage and then we’ll talk.
Pelosi is well aware of the power she has to frustrate Republican’s attempts to follow through on border security, and they care not an ounce for the government workers missing paychecks, or, more importantly, the national security implications of a woefully insecure southern border.
From The Hill:
“Trump singled out Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her opposition to the proposal, calling her a “Radical Democrat” and blaming her for the condition of the streets in San Francisco, which falls in her congressional district.
Trump called on Pelosi and Democrats to “do the right thing for the Country & allow people to go back to work” as a partial government shutdown triggered by his demand for wall funding stretched into its 30th day.”
The criticism was not exclusively from Democrats, though. Some immigration hawks on the Right also scoffed at the proposal, arguing the compromise amounted to amnesty. Trump responded that his offer was not amnesty, but, curiously, that he was prepared to offer amnesty as part of a much bigger deal.
“In a series of tweets, Trump chastised Democrats for dismissing his plan, and attempted to assuage immigration hard-liners who likened the administration’s latest proposal to amnesty for immigrants already in the country illegally.
“No, Amnesty is not a part of my offer,” Trump tweeted. “It is a 3 year extension of DACA. Amnesty will be used only on a much bigger deal, whether on immigration or something else. Likewise there will be no big push to remove the 11,000,000 plus people who are here illegally-but be careful Nancy!”
So what do you think? Are Democrats being the stubborn ones in their refusal to even consider an offer in compromise? Or are hardliners right to call temporary extensions of DACA ‘amnesty?’
Mind you, the extension offers are temporary, with no pathway to citizenship and no permanent legal status. The fact that Democrats were so quick to dismiss that offer should tell us something about whether or it meets their goals for amnesty.
For now, it seems the offer is dead for as long as Democrats refuse to even approach the table, and the government shutdown will go on for the foreseeable future.
Read more reactions from The Hill here.
Have a hot tip for First In Freedom Daily?
Got a hot news tip for us? Photos or video of a breaking story? Send your tips, photos and videos to tips@firstinfreedomdaily.com. All hot tips are immediately forwarded to FIFD Staff.
Have something to say? Send your own guest column or original reporting to submissions@firstinfreedomdaily.com.
