NORCROSS, Ga. — President Donald Trump offered a deal to end the government shutdown by giving three years of protections for some immigrants known as “Dreamers” in exchange for $5.7 billion in funding for his border wall.
But Democrats declared the plan a non-starter. 11Alive spoke with a state representative who is also an immigration attorney about what this deal would mean.
Brenda Lopez Romero represents Georgia’s 99th district. She said that the plan proposed by Trump giving 3 years of protection to Dreamers and some other immigrants in exchange for billions of funds for a border will doesn’t change anything in her eyes.
“It’s disingenuous to say that you are going to fix both programs that your administration terminated and have the authority to actually reinstate,” she said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the same point. Lopez Romero said the president’s actions to end both programs greatly hurt Georgia.
“We have close to 26,000 eligible DACA recipients here in our state alone,” she said. “The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute estimated when DACA was attempted to be terminated by the Trump administration that it would cost by not being in the employment sector – it would cost our state $66 million a year.”
Trump’s proposal will be put into a plan and brought before a vote. But Democrats have already declared it dead on arrival. Meanwhile, those in the worst shape are in the vast pool of government workers now going weeks without pay.
Some congressmen and senators from Georgia are already taking to Twitter to weigh in on Trump’s proposal.
Republican Senator David Perdue tweeted that:
President Trump again spoke directly to the American people about the national security crisis at our southern border. @POTUS has listened to both sides & is still willing to compromise. All members of Congress should take this proposal seriously.
Meanwhile, Democrat congressman Hank Johnson tweeted:
Protecting Dreamers and TPS recipients is the right thing to do. The President is wrong to hold them hostage over money for a wasteful wall that could be better spent on more effective border security measures. #EndTheShutdown