“President Trump Has to Choose.”
In response to the Trump Administration’s demand for billions more for a border wall and extra agents, Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, issued this statement:
Today’s move by President Trump to insist on billions for a stupid border wall comes at a delicate moment in the negotiations to produce a bipartisan bill that will couple the Dream Act with reasonable border security measures. Unfortunately, this makes it more likely that we will have a bloody battle over an unpopular border wall rather than a much-needed breakthrough to protect Dreamers.
President Trump has to choose. Does he want to throw red meat to his base and shut down the federal government over his stupid, wasteful and unnecessary border wall? Or does he want to resolve the crisis he created when he ended DACA and upended the lives of 800,000 young Americans? He cannot do both.
He can side with the 15% of the country that wants him to derail the Dream Act, or he can side with the 85% of the country that wants Dreamers to be allowed to remain in the only country most have ever known. If he wants to shut down the government over a border wall that is neither needed nor popular, he will undoubtedly excite some in his shrinking base. But if he wants to solve the crisis he created, he will have to stop playing to his base and start insisting on a narrowly-tailored bipartisan deal.
For the sake of our nation, for the sake of our nation’s reputation as a country that welcomes those who contribute to, enhance and become us, and for the sake of hundreds of thousands of young people who want to be formally recognized as the Americans they already are, let us hope that the President gets this one right. This reckless and ridiculous demand, especially at this critical moment, does not bode well.
