As expected, President Trump’s announcement presented a DACA/wall compromise that would re-open the federal government. More specific details are as follows:
- $800 million for “urgent humanitarian assistance”
- $805 million for drug detection technology at ports of entry
- 2,750 more border agents and law enforcement professionals
- 75 new immigration judge teams “to reduce the court backlog of almost 900,000 cases.” Trump further called the concept of lengthy trials for everyone who enters the country illegally “ridiculous” and that it’s something Congress needs to change.
- A new system for migrant minors to apply for asylum in their home countries and a plan to promote family reunification
- $5.7 billion for “physical steel barriers/wall in high priority locations”
- Three-year legislative relief for 700,000 DACA recipients (includes protection from deportation) and three-year extension of temporary protected status (TPS) for 300,000 immigrants
This is about as reasonable of a compromise as he can possibly make. It’s not an ideal plan, but something’s gotta give. If the Democrats reject this plan, and it sounds like they probably will, Trump can reasonably justify that this partial government shutdown is not his shutdown, and that the Democrats are choosing illegal immigration and open borders over Dreamers and TPS. And if they do go down that route, could we be in for 1,000,000 upset Dreamers and TPS immigrants as well as a declaration of a national emergency? We’ll just have to wait and see…
Video of Trump’s announcement below (starts at the 33:00 mark):
Make The West Great Again 