President Trump offers protections for 'dreamers' in bid for border wall funding

WASHINGTON — Seeking a shutdown solution, President Donald Trump announced Saturday that in exchange for $5.7 million for his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall, he would offer three years of protection for "Dreamers," or young people brought to America illegally as children.

But Democrats dismissed the offer as non-starter, calling on Trump to re-open the government first.

The President also proposed the "strategic implementation of physical barriers" along the southern border, saying specifically that the proposal is "not a concrete wall."

He also announced millions in proposed funding for humanitarian assistnace, new drug detection technology, additional border agents and law enforcement agents and the creation of new immigration judge teams.

Speaking from the White House, Trump said he was offering a “commonsense compromise both parties should embrace.”

In advance of Trump’s remarks, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the expected proposal for ending the 29-day partial government shutdown was “a compilation of several previously rejected initiatives, each of which is unacceptable.” The California Democrat said Trump’s expected offer was “not a good-faith effort” to help the immigrants and could not pass the House.

Trump said he would extend protections for young people brought to the country illegally as children, as well as for those with temporary protected status after fleeing countries affected by natural disasters or violence.

Democrats criticized the expected proposal because it didn’t seem to be a permanent solution for those immigrants and because it includes money for the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which the party strongly opposes. Democrats also want Trump to reopen government before talks can start.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he plans Senate action this coming week on President Donald Trump’s plan to end the partial government shutdown. But the plan faces an uphill path in the Senate and virtually no chance of survival in the Democratic-controlled House.

The Kentucky Republican calls Trump’s proposal a “fair compromise” for ending the standoff.

Trump’s plan would protect from deportation hundreds of thousands of young “Dreamer” immigrants in the U.S. illegally, in exchange for $5.7 billion to build 230 miles of border wall.

McConnell says, “Everyone has made their point — now it’s time to make a law.”

Top Democrats already oppose Trump’s plan. It will be difficult for the measure to get 60 votes needed to survive in the Senate, and it seems certain to die in the House.

Cox Media Group