DES MOINES, Iowa - President Trump is getting some criticism from both sides after his offer to Democrats to trade a DACA extension for money to pay for a steel border wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.
Sunday is day 29 of the partial government shutdown, hung up over the President's demand for border security money and refusal from Democrats in Congress to fund a wall.
The President is offering a three-year extension of DACA for young adults brought to the U.S. by illegal immigrant parents.
"Three-hundred-thousand immigrants whose protective status is facing expiration will now have three more years of certainty, so that Congress works on a larger immigration deal, which everybody wants." Trump said in a live address to the nation from the White House Saturday.
In a statement a half-hour before the President's address, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the offer is a non-starter.
Democratic U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, in Iowa this weekend as she explores a run for President in 2020, was critical of the proposal. On Twitter she posted:
Trump ordered the end of DACA and TPS. Then he shut down the government. Now he’s holding federal workers hostage, saying he'll temporarily give back what he took away—only if we give him a pointless, ineffective wall he falsely promised Mexico would pay for. This is a bad deal.
Gillibrand spoke in the rotunda of the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines during the Women's March Saturday.
Some conservatives, including Iowa U.S. Congressman Steve King say President Trump shouldn't be offering the DACA deal. King Tweeted:
A Big Beautiful Concrete Border Wall will be a monument to the Rule of Law, the sovereignty of the USA, & @RealDonaldTrump. If DACA Amnesty is traded for $5.7 billion(1/5 of a wall), wouldn’t be enough illegals left in America to trade for the remaining 4/5. NO AMNESTY 4 a wall!
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, is supporting President Trump's proposal, saying in a statement that the President's offer is a good-faith effort at compromise.
“President Trump’s latest proposal to address the humanitarian crisis on our nation’s southern border and promote national security is a good-faith effort at a compromise. It’s time now for Democratic Party leaders to finally come to the table. Time and again, President Trump has shown he is willing to negotiate in earnest to promote border security and end the partial government shutdown, but Democrats have refused to engage.
“Today’s offer by President Trump includes policies previously supported by a number of Democrats and Republicans to tackle urgent immigration and security needs and provide additional certainty for many immigrants in the United States. Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi announced her opposition before the President even put his proposal forward. Democratic Party leaders need to stop putting politics ahead of national security and federal workers.”