President Trump is expected to offer Democrats a compromise on immigration Saturday aimed at ending the shutdown.
According to Axios, Trump’s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner and Vice President Mike Pence have negotiated a deal with members that would offer Democrats protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and extend the legal status of Temporary Protected Status holders in exchange for the $5.7 billion for the wall.
The legislation that would offer deferred action, known as the BRIDGE Act, would protect people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as minors, often known as “Dreamers,” protection from deportation and give them work authorization, but not a path to citizenship. The Trump administration has previously sought to limit the TPS program, which allows people from designated countries affected by conflict or natural disasters to stay in the U.S.
Trump is expected to make the announcement in remarks set for later this afternoon. He had offered few details of the upcoming announcement on the partial government shutdown as he spoke with reporters earlier Saturday, even as he insisted a wall at the southern border was a priority to stop caravans of migrants making their way north through Mexico.
“I think it will be an important statement. Having to do with the, as you know, caravans are coming up. They have a big one coming up now. I’m disappointed Mexico is not stopping them. Mexico seems unfortunately powerless to stop them,” he said.
Trump announced late Friday he would make an announcement Saturday afternoon on the partial government shutdown, which entered an unprecedented fifth week Saturday. Trump and congressional Democrats have been at an impasse regarding more than $5 billion for border security, including a physical wall at the southern border.
“I hope Speaker Pelosi can come along and realize what everybody knows, no matter who it is, they know walls work and we need walls. Whether it is personal or not — and it’s not personal for me — she is being controlled by the radical left which is a problem. She is under total control of the radical left,” said Trump. “That is a very bad thing for her and a bad thing for the Democrats.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was spotted leaving the capital Friday night.
