The following is a statement from Pili Tobar, managing director of America’s Voice, regarding President Trump’s non-starter immigration proposal:
The President needs to act immediately to reopen the government. Families across the country are suffering because of the President’s temper tantrum over an unnecessary wall.
Today’s proposal is neither bold nor new. We’ve seen this movie before. Under this ‘offer,’ TPS holders and DACA recipients would receive a temporary reprieve – protections already extended by the federal courts – in exchange for unaccompanied minors being denied life-saving protections at the border, and Trump being able to build hundreds of miles of a border barrier that is both ineffective and offensive.
Moreover, Trump ‘negotiated’ this offer with the Vice President and his son-in-law. He should look up the word ‘negotiation’ in the dictionary. Last we checked, it means that both sides are involved. This so-called ‘deal’ is just a one-sided fever dream.
Donald Trump isn’t interested in making a deal. He’s interested in shifting the blame. Let’s hope the media doesn’t fall for his bad-faith maneuver. We are confident that Democrats won’t take the bait.
The urgent crisis facing the country right now is the fact that a quarter of the federal government is closed down, and 800,000 federal workers are being unfairly punished. The blame lies solely on Trump and Republican enablers such as Mitch McConnell. It’s time for them to move forward, hold a vote on a bipartisan plan that could reopen the government immediately, and then let’s discuss immigration policy and a real compromise.
