Trump ties DACA to border wall

Some portions of the U.S./Mexico border already have a wall as shown above. No one has proposed a wall to stop Canadians from illegally entering the country.

AS WE EXPECTED all along, Donald Trump's expressed sympathy for the Dreamers was nothing but a ploy to find some way to pay for his border wall in his proposed budget.

Trump made it clear that any budget package include funding for a border wall and immigration reform. In exchange Democrats might get legislation that would protect the Dreamers.

Friday, (Dec. 29) he laid his cards on the table. "The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc," he said in a tweet. "We must protect our Country at all cost!"



DACA participants, who are immigrants brought to the U.S. as children by their undocumented parents, received protection from deportation under the law until the program was ended by Trump earlier this year. He told the GOP-dominated Congress to come up with legislation by the March in 2018 that would protect the so-called Dreamers from deportation.

About 13,000 of the almost 800,000 DACA participants are from Asia, mostly from South Korea, the Philippines, India and Pakistan.

DACA has been reduced to a bargaining chip to build a wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico. Having failed to get Mexico to pay for the wall, Congress must find funding for the what could be over $20 billion.

Democrats, led by Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, swore that no budget would be passed without legislation supporting the DACA participants.

"After weeks of public pressure led by undocumented youth, a handful of Senators and Members of Congress pledged their support for a swift passage of the DREAM Act by the end of the year," read a statement from Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

"For those who were not moved by the hundreds of undocumented activists and their allies mobilizing around the country, you have turned your back to these communities and left them at risk of deportation."

On the list of demands for immigration reform include: limiting family-based green cards to spouses and the minor children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents and creating a point-based system.

The White House also said it wants to boost fees at border crossings, make it easier to deport gang members and unaccompanied children, and overhaul the asylum system. And it wants new measures to crack down on "sanctuary cities," which don't share information with federal immigration authorities, among other proposals.

Congress averted a government shutdown this month by passing an emergency funding measure to get the government through January, when negotiations will pick up as Congress returns to Washington.

With Trump's cards on the table, it's the Democrats' turn to call, fold or raise the ante. Schumer and Pelosi will meet with White House Chief of Staff Wednesday, Jan. 3.

Members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus "are committed to finding a permanent legislative fix to enshrine DACA protections immediately. Our caucus stands in solidarity with AAPI Dreamers and demands that Congress pass a clean Dream Act before the end of the year." said Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, CAPAC chair.
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DACA deal hits a roadblock

Stephen Miller

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-NY, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, are finding out what former business associates, builders and contractors have found out the hard way: making a deal with Donald Trump is not a sure thing.

The White House is reportedly going to submit a plan to Congress that would use its support for the DACA program a bargaining chip in exchange for Democratic support irs immigration proposals that would include cutting immigration in half.

This so-called "deal" is being spearheaded by Stephen MIller, a noted anti-immigrant zealot.

Last month, "Chuck and Nancy" thought they had reached an agreement with Trump to try and save President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that allowed the undocumented young people who were brought into the children illegally by their parents.

The meeting with "Chuck and Nancy" reportedly angered Miller, who now appears to be making impossible demands to scuttle the agreement between Trump and the Democrats.

One Republican aide told CNN: “Either the president is negotiating in bad faith, or Stephen Miller has hijacked the negotiation.”

“The Stephen Miller wish list is a non-starter with Democrats, and this divides Republicans in both the House and Senate,” the aide continued. “Until Miller takes a backseat, the DACA deal is going nowhere.”

In his drive to undo Obama actions, Trump announced by executive order that the DACA program would end by year's end. At the same time, he asked Congress to come up with a plan to save the 800,000 young men and women who have signed up for DACA.

With Miller in charge of the negotiations for the White House, it is unlikely that deadline will be met. 

Ali Noorani, executive director of the pro-reform National Immigration Forum, said he thinks Trump wants to do something to protect Dreamers from deportation and understands that will require a compromise with Democrats. But he doesn’t think Miller goes along with that.

“The president is being undermined by his own people,” Noorani said.

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