Several prominent Democrats have made statements over the past two years saying they would open to obtaining funding for a wall along the U.S. southern border in exchange for DACA amnesty.
The Democrats— including former Vice President Joe Biden, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC)— all made statements signaling that they would support a border wall if it meant that President Donald Trump would support the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The DACA program, which began under the Obama administration, grants protections for illegal aliens who came to the U.S. as children.
Biden once told CNN’s Chris Cuomo in February 2018 that Democrats should make a compromise with Trump on the border wall if it meant saving DACA
“If you had a wall that provided security that wasn’t an absolute waste of money — meaning national security and the technical means to protect it, and all these kids had a path to citizenship — I’d be inclined to do that,” Biden, 75, told Chris Cuomo on CNN.
“You’d give Trump the political victory in order to get the deal done?” Cuomo asked.
“I don’t care about his political victory,” Biden responded. “That’s not how I view politics, whether or not it’s a personal victory or not.”
Hoyer also signaled a willingness to provide wall funding in May 2018 as something Congress “could negotiate.”
“We have offered [wall funding] in the past,” Hoyer told reporters during a May 2018 press briefing at the Capitol. “I think that would be something we certainly could negotiate.”
Clyburn, who is also at the top of House Democratic leadership, had even proposed a DACA deal as early September 2017.
“I know that there’s an environment now for something big to happen” on DACA,” Clyburn told MSNBC at the time.
Trump declared in a Saturday address that he would provide $5.7 billion in border wall funding in exchange for providing protections for DACA recipients as a compromise to re-open the government.
Despite Trump’s offer of a compromise, Democrats rejected the deal, calling it a “non-starter,” and a method of “hostage taking.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a statement immediately following the speech that he would bring the compromise to the Senate floor next week.
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