Critics Slam Donald Trump’s Immigration ‘Compromise’
Earlier today, as the Associated Press reported, President Donald Trump proposed offering temporary protection for “Dreamers,” immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally as children, in exchange for border wall funding.
Democratic Party leaders have signaled that they will reject the offer.
Trump critics, politicians, immigration experts, and civil liberties advocates are slamming the president’s proposal, Business Insider reports.
Democratic politicians are pointing out that it was Trump who had taken away protections for Dreamers in the first place. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was quick to point out that offering some immigrant protections back in exchange for border wall funding is not actually a compromise but “more hostage taking.”
“It is unlikely that any one of these provisions alone would pass the House, and taken together, they are a non-starter,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement, adding that the proposal does not include permanent solutions and is therefore unacceptable.
“It is unclear if the one-sided proposal offered today is merely a face-saving tactic,” the American Civil Liberties Union said, suggesting that Trump is trying to buy a “get out of shutdown free card” by offering “tepid” fixes.
Organizations representing so-called “Dreamers” pushed back against Trump’s proposal as well, condemning the president, and arguing that a permanent solution is what immigrants in the United States, and at the border, need.
“We want a permanent solution for our families and one that does not come at the expense of our brothers and sisters at the border.”
Apart from offering some protections for immigrants who arrived to the United States illegally as children, Trump offered protections for TPS (Temporary Protected Status) recipients, wall funding provisions, an extra 2,750 Border Patrol Agents, funding for immigration judge teams, $800 million for drug-detection technology, and $800 million for humanitarian assistance.
Trump on Saturday proposed an immigration deal to end the government shutdown. But the overture had already been rejected by Democrats who said it largely repackaged a proposal that had failed earlier https://t.co/1uA3znifRh pic.twitter.com/mBTcXnZPPU
— POLITICO (@politico) January 19, 2019
But none of the above would resolve the problems caused by Donald Trump’s own immigration policies, critics argue.
Senior policy analyst for the conservative Becoming American Initiative, Jordan Bruneau, argued in a statement supplied to Business Insider that none of the offers tackle broader problems with American immigration policies.
According to Bruneau, since 7 million jobs remain unfilled in the country, a “market-based work visa system would allow those who want to pursue the American dream…a legal opportunity to do so” is needed.
As detailed by a previous Inquisitr report, the ongoing shutdown is the longest in U.S. history. More than 800,000 federal employees have been left without pay, and the costs of the shutdown are surpassing the costs of the wall itself.
The crisis appears to have reached the White House as well. Some of Trump’s allies are urging the president to declare a national emergency, while others remain opposed to the idea.
