U.S. President Donald Trump spoke out on Saturday with a deal that help end the government shutdown. Due to both Democrats and President Trump in a stalemate over border wall funding, the government has been on a 29-day partial shutdown.
President Trump began by saying that the US had a proud history of welcoming immigrants into the country, but due to the “badly broken” system that’s existed for a “very long time,” he said this needed fixing. He went on to say that he was “here to break the logjam and provide Congress with a path forward to end the government shutdown.”
He has offered temporary protections for “Dreamers” and other immigrants in his proposal, but this was immediately dismissed. His suggestions of the ideas are concerned with Dreamers and Temporary Protection Status (TPS) holders. Currently, Dreamers are protected from deportation under a program that allows them to work but not obtain citizenship. This is something that Trump has been trying to get rid of. But in his proposal, Trump said he would extend the protections for Dreamers for another three years, which allows them to continue working with this permits. In addition, he promised to extend the visas for TPS holders for an additional three years. Currently, there are more than 300,000 people from countries that were affected by war or disasters and are allowed to work in the United States through TPS.
Other proposals that President Trump has offered include $800m in urgent humanitarian assistance, 2,750 additional border agents and security officials, and 75 new immigration judge teams. These proposals are largely to appease Democrats and what they desire.
Trump has continued to stand firm in his demand for $5.7bn in funding for the border wall. Democrats have refused to fund Trump’s much-desired border wall and were already expecting to reject any concessions.
Democrats in their part have said that they are willing to talk about border security only after the government has reopened. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, “It was the president who singled-handedly took away DACA and TPS protections in the first place. Offering some protections back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but more hostage taking.”
This shutdown, which has been the longest in history of the country, has affected 800,000 federal workers that continue to struggle making ends meet. About a quarter of the government has been partially shutdown since December 22 due to funding expiring.
