President Trump on Tuesday said he’d “love to see a government shutdown” if he doesn’t get everything he wants from Congress in a deal for protecting the Dreamers and immigration reform.
The president, speaking during a round-table on the criminal gang MS-13, said he favored a shutdown “if we don’t get this stuff taken care of,” referring to his demands that lawmakers approve up to $30 billion for a border wall and increased security, as well as an end to chain migration and the visa lottery.
“If we have to shut it down because the Democrats don’t want safety, then shut it down,” he said.
The president also will likely not extend the March 5 deadline when work permits begin expiring for Dreamers — but the White House said the undocumented immigrants brought here as children won’t be a priority for deportation.
“I doubt very much” that the president would extend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told reporters at the Capitol.
The former Marine general said he was “not so sure this president has the authority to extend it” because the administration believes the Obama-era program was illegal.
Kelly said that as long as an immigrant in the US illegally has no criminal record, they are likely to stay “out of anyone’s scope” for a long time, and that “they are not a priority for deportation.”
He also said Trump won’t ask Congress for a short-term extension of the program.
“What makes them act is pressure,” he said about lawmakers.
Senators are trying to come up with a plan to protect the Dreamers — and it was unclear whether Kelly’s stance was a negotiating tactic or a valid threat.
Democrats and Republicans are far apart on any agreement, with the president saying he would only agree to fix the system if Democrats agree to fund the border wall, end chain migration and a visa lottery program he opposes.
The White House shot down a bipartisan plan Monday from Sens. John McCain (D-Ariz.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) that would grant permanent legal status to Dreamers while beefing up border security.
But the bill did not include the estimated $30 billion the president wants to enhance security and build the wall he promised on the campaign trail.
Kelly also told reporters that immigrants eligible for Dreamer status but never applied for it were either “too afraid to sign up” or “too lazy to get off their asses.”
“There are 690,000 official DACA residents and the president sent over [in his proposed deal with Congress] what amounts to two and a half times that number, to 1.8 million. The difference between 690 and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses but they didn’t sign up,” Kelly said.