President Donald Trump promoted his offer to grant amnesty – in exchange for border security – to 1.8 million illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children, urging Democrats to join him.
“Either they have to come on board — because they talk a good game with DACA, but they don’t produce,” Trump said in his remarks to a Republican conference in West Virginia.
The president challenged Democrats for not taking the issue seriously, repeating the four pillars of his immigration plan that, in addition to granting a pathway to citizenship to 1.8 million illegal immigrants, include funding for border security, the end to the visa lottery program, and ending chain migration.
“I’ve been hearing about DACA for so many years. Some people call it Dreamers. It’s not Dreamers; don’t fall into that trap,” he said. “It’s much different than Dreamers. … We have dreamers in this country, too. We can’t forget our dreamers.”
Trump said that his immigration framework was “generous” and even “flexible” but warned Democrats about making more demands.
“We’ll either have something that’s fair and equitable and good and secure, or we’re going to have nothing at all,” he said.
Trump suggested that many Democrats were cynically opposing his plan so that nothing significant could be accomplished ahead of the midterm elections.
“They’re not looking to approve it at all; they want to use it as an election issue,” he said.
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