Immigration

Schumer and Pelosi Roll Over Trump and the GOP Again

Written by SK Ashby

The right wing is apoplectic today because Trump met with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer last night, and you know what that means: Trump gave them almost exactly what they wanted.

Schumer and Pelosi announced last night that they've reached a deal with Trump to codify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program into law in exchange for throwing more money at the border, but not money for a wall.

The Democrats, Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi, said in a joint statement that they had a “very productive” dinner meeting with the president at the White House that focused on the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. “We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides,” they said.

The White House is vaguely denying this version of events today, but what Trump tweeted this morning is not inconsistent with the deal announced by Schumer and Pelosi.


"Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange" he says, which is exactly what Schumer and Pelosi announced.

Now, some people may attack Schumer and Pelosi for agreeing to throw more money at the border even if it doesn't fund the construction of Trump's fantasy border wall, but this not a new compromise.

Codifying DACA into law and flushing more money down the toilet at the border was part of the 2013 immigration reform bill that Republicans blocked in Congress. Democrats including President Obama agreed to spend more on security if it meant allowing more immigrants to live and work without fear of deportation, but it never made it to the president's desk.

Even though that was Senator Marco Rubio's pet project at the time, he ultimately came out against his own bill and joined those who killed it. He was running for president, for Pete's sake.

Nothing can force Republicans in Congress to accept such a compromise this time around in 2017 but, as long as they're at each other's throats, at least they'll be put on the spot and distracted.