On Wednesday, Donald Trump said that US Immigration and Border Patrol officials will make a plea backing the wall at a White House meeting with lawmakers. The US president stressed that he is willing to keep working on the legal status for so-called Dreamers.
The president stressed that “if we win Daca case, we’ll be able to make a deal easily on Dreamers and the wall.”
Trump has been a fierce opponent of DACA, an Obama-era program temporarily protecting undocumented child migrants upon their arrival in the US. The children who are eligible for the programme have been called Dreamers. By the time Trump announced his decision to renounce the program in September 2017, 787,580 had been granted approval under DACA. However, Trump's attempts to end the programme have been blocked by courts.
READ MORE: Trump Doubles Down on Claim Mexico Paying for Border Wall Through Trade Deal
Department of Homeland Security officials are expected to brief congressional leaders ahead of the meeting. Kirstjen Nielsen, United States Secretary of Homeland Security, has advocated for enhanced border security measures ahead of the meeting, noting that illegal migrants pose as families to make their way into the US.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) 2 января 2019 г.
The confrontation over the cost of the border wall led to the partial shutdown of the US government at the end of December. Trump is still demanding $5 billion in funding for the construction of the wall, which he believes will stem the flow of illegal immigrants from the south.
The sweeping majority of the Democrats and some Republicans are opposed to granting the vast amount of money for the president's project, citing Trump’s earlier pledge to make Mexico pay for the endeavour.
