Trump’s Plan To Ransom Dreamers For His Wall Lasted An Hour before 2 Top Senators Killed It

During a joint press conference, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made it clear that Trump’s plan to ransom the fate of Dreamers to get his border wall paid for was dead in the Senate.

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When asked about funding Trump’s wall as a part of keeping Dreamers in the country, Durbin said, with Graham nodding in agreement, “I am not going to get into specific negotiations of what I will accept and what I won’t accept, but I think the wall is a non-starter in terms of the political controversy. But I don’t disagree with what Lindsey just said, in order to get 68 votes in the Senate, I swallowed hard. Of course, 11 million people ended up with an opportunity for citizenship when it was all over that was part of our agreement, so I’ve been open to border security issues. I’ll continue to be open to them. The wall though is a wall too far.”

The press conference by the Senators came roughly an hour after White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that Trump’s plan was to tie wall funding to keeping Dreamers legally in the US.
The comments by Sen. Durbin illustrate the reality that Trump’s wall is not popular in Congress. Democrats and Republicans like Graham aren’t going to terrorized into funding Trump’s border wall. Donald Trump is really bad at politics and an even worse negotiator, as all of his tactics are crashing and burning with Congress.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association