Trump Insists Again on a Wall, as Immigration, Spending Deadlines Loom

Wall Street Journal

By Kristina Peterson and Laura Meckler

February 05, 2018

Trump Insists Again on a Wall, as Immigration, Spending Deadlines Loom

President Donald Trump on Monday again insisted on funding for his promised border wall, making clear the high hurdle faced by a bipartisan pair of senators who are backing an immigration plan that leaves out wall funding and other Trump demands.

The senators are hoping that their legislation, being introduced Monday, will help end the impasse that has hindered a two-year budget deal.

The bill, by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.), doesn’t approve immediate funding for Mr. Trump’s demand, reiterated on Monday, that any immigration deal include funding for a wall along the border with Mexico.

Congress is gearing up this week to pass another short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown four days before the government’s current funding expires at 12:01 a.m. on Friday.

Lawmakers are increasingly frustrated by the gridlock that has prevented them from striking a long-term deal on either immigration or spending levels. Immigration has become entangled in the spending negotiations ever since Mr. Trump last year ended an Obama-era program that protects young people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, known as Dreamers.

Messrs. McCain and Coons plan to unveil a proposal that offers a path to citizenship for the young undocumented immigrants and orders a comprehensive study to determine what border-security measures are needed.

But the bill stops well short of almost all of Mr. Trump’s demands—including nis signature promise of immediate funding for the wall along the southern border—and is likely to meet a chilly reception from conservative Republicans.

“Any deal on DACA that does not include STRONG border security and the desperately needed WALL is a total waste of time,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday. “March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Dems seem not to care about DACA. Make a deal!”

Mr. Trump was referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the Obama-era measure protecting the young immigrants from deportation. When he ended the program in September Mr. Trump gave Congress until March to enact a replacement. Participants in the program have been dubbed Dreamers after the Dream Act, earlier failed legislation that would have given them a path to citizenship.

It’s not clear what will happen if Congress and Mr. Trump fail to agree on a legalization program for the DACA recipients. One idea is a short-term extension that allows this group to temporarily stay in the U.S. in a state of legal limbo.

Mr. McCain, who was diagnosed with brain cancer last summer and has been working from Arizona since late 2017, retains powerful sway among his GOP colleagues. His bill with Mr. Coons could also benefit from good timing, as the March 5 deadline draws closer and lawmakers grapple with the political consequences of failing to reach any agreement.

“It’s time we end the gridlock so we can quickly move on to completing a long-term budget agreement that provides our men and women in uniform the support they deserve,” Mr. McCain said in a statement Sunday.

“While reaching a deal cannot come soon enough for America’s service members, the current political reality demands bipartisan cooperation to address the impending expiration of the DACA program and secure the southern border,” he said.

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com