President Trump on Friday accused Democrats of using recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for their own political purposes, and said Democrats rejected a deal that would keep people under DACA protected from deportation.
“I do want the Hispanic community to know and DACA recipients to know that Republicans are much more on your side than the Democrats, who are using you for their own purposes,” Trump said at the White House.
Trump and Republicans tried a few times to get Democrats to agree to extend protection for people under the expired DACA program, in return for funding for Trump’s border wall. But Democrats rejected those proposals, even after the White House agreed to drop two other demands to reduce legal immigration.
“The Republicans are with you, they want to get your situation taken care of,” Trump said. “The Democrats fought us, they just fought every single inch of the way. They did not want DACA in this bill.”
Trump did get $1.6 billion in the massive, $1.3 trillion spending bill for border security. But the language does not allow him to build a concrete wall anywhere along the border, and limits him to fencing.
Trump spoke at the White House as part of his announcement that he was signing the bill, after giving Congress a scare Friday morning when he tweeted that he was considering vetoing the bill.
