House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., charged Thursday that Republicans would rather do a deal “with the devil” than work with Democrats on an immigration bill that can pass.
“They have not ever been interested,” Pelosi said of Republicans, just before the House was set to consider two immigration bills. One is a conservative bill, and the other, from Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is a more moderate version, but Democrats oppose both.
“It’s not a compromise. It may be a compromise with the devil, but it’s not a compromise with the Democrats in terms of what they have in their bill,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi declined to say whether she would call on her caucus to support a narrow bill that would keep families together on the border if it passes the Senate.
“I can’t urge anyone to support anything that I haven’t seen,” Pelosi said, pointing to the cadre of immigration plans that were unable to pass the chamber earlier this year.
Pelosi’s comments come a day after President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to end the separation temporarily.
The Democratic leader also criticized Trump, who accused her of saying open borders is a “dream” of hers. She called that claim “ridiculous.”
“He thinks that the way you protect the border is to put children in cages,” Pelosi said. “The president is either not knowing, not caring, delusional, in denial about his own policies being outside the circle of civilized human behavior.”
