Sen. Bernie Sanders said President Trump will be to blame if the government shuts down should an agreement not be reached over the legal status of illegal immigrants brought to the country as children.
Sanders said on ABC’s “This Week” Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — which allowed illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors by their parents to stay in the country legally — set up perilous negotiations over the status of the 800,000 people affected by the program.
Sanders wants Congress to pass the Dream Act, which would be the congressional version of the executive action taken by President Obama and ended by Trump.
“The Republicans control the White House, the Senate, the U.S. House. They’ll determine whether or not there is a government shutdown. I hope there is not one. It would be a disaster for the country,” he said.
“This is what the president precipitated. We have to deal with that decision. What we have got to do, it seems to be, is to pass the dreamers legislation that provides and protects legal status.”
Congress has until Jan. 19 to pass a funding bill for the government to avoid a shutdown.
Republicans want to get money for Trump’s wall along the southern border included in the agreement, which Democrats say is a non-starter. It remains to be seen if Democrats will trade legal status for DACA recipients in exchange for money for the wall.
