As President Trump prepared to address a Republican retreat in West Virginia Thursday, he took to Twitter first thing in the morning to hammer Democrats over the ‘Dreamers’ again.
‘March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Democrats are doing nothing about DACA,’ Trump said. ‘They Resist, Blame, Complain and Obstruct – and do nothing.’
‘Start pushing Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to work out a DACA fix, NOW!’ the president urged.
President Trump will be traveling to West Virginia on Thursday to address Republican lawmakers attending a party retreat. There, he said, he planned to work on an immigration and DACA fix, though blamed Democrats for the current predicament of the Dreamers
President Trump pressured Democrats to work out a deal on DACA in a Thursday morning tweet
He also said that he would be talking DACA at the Republican retreat in West Virginia Thursday as Trump addresses a lunchtime session
Trump also previewed his trip, saying he was heading to ‘beautiful’ West Virginia, where he would be meeting with the ‘great members of the Republican Party.’
‘Will be planning Infrastructure and discussing Immigration and DACA, not easy when we have no support from the Democrats,’ Trump said, articulating his plans for the retreat, taking place at the luxury retreat, the Greenbrier.
In early September, President Trump’s Justice Department announced the phasing out of the DACA program, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era ordered that allowed the so-called ‘Dreamers,’ undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, to remain.
DACA permits would expire March 5, as Trump kicked the can to Congress to figure out a fix.
Since then, the plight of the ‘Dreamers’ has been central to the drama on Capitol Hill.
Last month, the president rejected a bipartisan proposal from a group of centrist senators, which led to a three-day government shutdown.
He and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also had a back-and-forth over DACA and the president’s proposed border wall, but when negotiations broke down the White House quickly dubbed the government’s closure the ‘Schumer shutdown.’
Democrats, meanwhile, pointed their fingers at Trump.
Last week, the White House rolled out a four-pillared plan articulating demands for a future deal.
First, Trump would grant a pathway to citizenship to 1.8 million illegal immigrants, which the president called ‘generous’ because it would go beyond the people who were eligible for DACA.
In return, he requested $25 billion for his border wall – an essential Trump campaign promise – and for bother security.
The White House also wants chain migration contained to just the nuclear families of immigrants and wants to end the visa lottery program.
At Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Trump uttered a line about ‘Dreamers’ was one of the most talked about during his Tuesday night State of the Union address.
Instead of Trump talking about the group of immigrants, who he’s expressed sympathy for in the past, he said, ‘Americans are dreamers, too.’
‘I am extending an open hand to work with the members of both parties – Democrats and Republicans – to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion and creed,’ he said, with ‘citizen’ being the vital word.
The ‘dreamers’ line drew praise from white nationalist leader David Duke, many Democrats, on the other hand, had brought ‘dreamers’ as their guests.
Next week there’s yet another government funding deadline, which means the government could shut down again.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, speaking to reporters at the Republican retreat, said he didn’t anticipate there being another government shutdown.
The leader of the House conservatives did add a caveat: ‘I didn’t anticipate one last time.’
‘I think the president has probably been out there leading on immigration more so than most presidents,’ he added, preparing to hear from Trump at the retreat later Thursday. ‘I mean, he set four pillars, he’s, you know, outlined what he would like to see, it’s now incumbent upon Congress to work.’
‘I mean the fact that we do not have a plan, here on February 1, fives months into a six-month timeline is troubling,’ Meadows said.
Sen. John Thune, Republican from South Dakota, also speaking to reporters in West Virginia Thursday morning, suggested that the four-pillared White House plan may have to be shaved down to two: DACA and the border wall.
A two-prong solution, ‘may be the best we can hope for,’ Thune said.
But proving just how far lawmakers are away from a deal, even within their own party, Meadows immediately dismissed that.
‘To suggest that we’re going to give, in my mind, a clean DACA for a few billion dollars, that will not really secure our border is a non-starter,’ Meadows said.