WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nine Americans who have lost loved ones at the hands of illegal aliens spoke out in response to reports out of a Wednesday night dinner meeting between President Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that the discussions involved a deal to shield DACA illegal aliens from deportation.
After Wednesday night’s dinner meeting at the White House, Schumer and Pelosi released a joint statement claiming an agreement had been reached with Trump to “enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides,” according to the Washington Times.
On Thursday morning President Trump began tweeting in response to the reports on the meeting between the three. Those tweets read:
“No deal was made last night on DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote.”,
“The WALL, which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built.”,
“Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!…..”, and
“…They have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own – brought in by parents at young age. Plus BIG border security”.
Mary Ann Mendoza, mother of slain police officer Brandon Mendoza tweeted on Wednesday night:
“@POTUS @realDonaldTrump @Scavino45 @DanScavino @KellyannePolls @PressSec Don’t you dare turn your back on Angel Moms who stood by you!” and:
Mendoza provided the following statement on Wednesday night in response to the news:
There is nothing President Trump should be negotiating on when it comes to Border Security or an unconstitutional program such as DACA. Congressional and Senate members need to get off their hind ends and start doing something productive instead of drawing lines in the sand. This is NOT a Democratic or Republican issue. This is an AMERICAN issue and they need to start protecting us! The Senate needs to pass HR3003 No Sanctuary for Criminals Act and HR3004 Kate’s Law. Both of these deal with ILLEGAL ALIEN CRIMINALS. They owe Americans the protection they have failed us on. President Trump needs to stand firm and keep his promises not only to us Angel Moms and Dads but to All Americans.
Sabine Durden, legal immigrant and mother of slain 911 operator Dominic Durden, responded to the news on Thursday morning:
Nothing can hurt me deeper than the death of my only child. Nothing but the news about DACA receiving amnesty feels like a horrible nightmare and if true, betrayal of the worst kind. I placed my life on hold since July 10, 2015 when I personally met Trump and believed he would honor his promise of no amnesty and building the wall. I shared my sons’ tragedy at rallies, spoke to senators and congressmen, appeared on tv and radio shows and supported and stood up for the man I believed would be the best for our country. For him to keep his promises so no other family would ever have to feel this pain.
I dealt with death threats, nasty and hurtful messages and losing some family members and friends over my support for President Trump, and I didn’t mind, again, because I believed in the bigger picture of a more secure America. I believed that he would keep the promises he made personally to many of us who lost loved ones because of illegals/ “Dreamers” and the promises he made to America.
Many twitter/ Facebook friends told me they voted for him because they heard my story, learned about sanctuary cities and other issues about illegal immigration and were touched and also wanted to make sure this insanity stops. And now I find myself in shock, disbelief, feeling betrayed and used, because it looks like legal immigrants like me, wasted their time standing in line filling out paperwork and going about it the right way. Those who claim to be “Dreamers” can continue giving us the middle finger, burn our flags and laugh at our laws.
800,000 will turn into millions because with this move, the door is wide open, the message for more to just waltz in, claim a certain status, while we have millions of Americans in need of assistance they will never get. Of course they will have to keep their whole families here as well and bring in the rest, because he doesn’t want to separate families. And on and on. There will be massive fraud about who actually came in as a child. How do you vet those claims?
It’s been clear for a long time that illegals have more rights than Americans and to reward this, is utterly disturbing, disappointing and outright pathetic. I have been fighting this issue for almost 5 years and to think that my dead son was used like a prop is more than I can handle right now. While dreamers celebrate, my nightmare continues.
My heart goes out to all the other family members who lost a loved one because our immigration system failed them as well and to the many more victims this will happen to because it’s clear that Americans are not that important to our administration and most politicians.
I still hope to wake up from this nightmare and find the wall is getting build, illegals are deported, laws are enforced and Dreamers go to their country of origin to apply the skills they learned here and no other family looses a loved one by the hand of someone that isn’t suppose to be here.
Don Rosenberg, father of slain young man Drew Rosenberg, told Breitbart News on Wednesday night:
Border security should be non-negotiable. Border responsibility is 100% the responsibility of the government. That’s their job. It’s not their job to facilitate someone who has broken the law to be able to stay here. Because of the certain circumstances of these people, maybe they need to look into it, but they shouldn’t be trading it for border security. Negotiating against border security is extortion.
If the conversation with the Democrats was going to be legalization of DACA for border security, Trump should have cut it off immediately and entertaining it at all is reprehensible. He ran on enforcing the law and not a year into his Presidency he’s selling out the families who have lost loved ones?
Rosenberg then referred back to his comments from earlier in the day in a release from the group AVIAC regarding existing immigration legislation:
The legislation should be passed before any legislation is even considered that will provide status, protection or any benefits for those who have entered the country illegally or have overstayed their visa. That includes DACA legislation or “The Dream Act.” The health, safety and welfare of American citizens and legal immigrants should never be a negotiating chip for those who have broken our laws or ignored them. To do so is extortion plain and simple. Every day law abiding citizens and legal immigrants are injured and killed by those who have no right to be here yet the media refuses to inform the public.
Michelle Root, mother of slain young woman Sarah Root, said Thursday in response to the reports:
I am very saddened on how fast they are ready to move on the DACA issue but are slow in getting laws/bills passed on HR3003 (No Sanctuary for Criminals Act-which includes Sarah’s Law & Grant’s Law in it)& HR3004 (Kate’s Law). The bill Davis/Oliver Act hasn’t even made it to the Congress floor. We need to take care of these laws/bills before we think about DACA. My daughter Sarah had a dream too!
Steve Ronnebeck, father of murdered young man Grant Ronnebeck, told Breitbart News on Wednesday night:
I’m disappointed especially since the man who murdered my son is a dreamer. I could understand if it was a compromise for securing funding for the wall but we didn’t even get that. I don’t understand.
Laura Wilkerson, whose son Joshua Wilkerson was killed by an illegal alien “dreamer,” said the following on Thursday in response to news of a possible DACA deal:
I still trust he’s going to do what he said he’s going to do, but we’ve got to get it done. I would accept a DACA in exchange for the wall, but some serious stipulations to DACA, that it doesn’t give them citizenship or any of the perks of assistance, no right to vote and that their families aren’t grandfathered in on this. They’re families have got to go if they came illegally. And if it’s just the number they said and none are added to that. If they’ve committed a crime, they’re gone. It’s not a choice I would love, but I would agree with that. But if he’s accepting DACA and not getting a wall then he owes us an explanation. I think he’ll still come through, I just don’t know how he’s playing this game. I kinda think there’s more to it than what we’re hearing and I hope so.
Maureen Laquerre, sister of slain man Richard Grossi who had been recently retired when he was killed, told Breitbart News on Thursday morning:
If Trump’s trying to make a deal he needs to sit down and talk to us about it because he more than once looked us in the eye and told us that our family members didn’t die in vain. The DACA children aren’t children anymore and they’ve had enough time to work on getting citizenship if that’s what they really wanted. I’m not into let’s make a deal, this isn’t a game show here.
My thing is Americans first. Nobody had empathy for us when our family members died. We’re permanently separated. The lady that killed my brother did get deported, but that was her wish. It seems everything goes their way all the time and I’ve had enough of it. They shouldn’t be entitled. The benefits of citizenship are a privilege to us as Americans, why should it be given away? I’m torn. Matthew Denice had his whole life ahead of him, Sabine’s son, my brother had just taken retirement and he had so much ahead of him. I’ve been in the presence of these illegals when I’ve testified and they look us in the face like we’re the criminals. No sympathy, no compassion, no remorse from them in any circumstances. They stare us down, it’s disheartening.
When my brother was killed in Milford, Massachusetts in 2009, three deaths occurred in that town in two years at the hands of illegals. My brother, Andrea Agosto and Matthew Denice. We had legal immigrants there from Portugal that are fantastic, hard workers who are very upset about these illegals trying to get everything for nothing. My grandparents were legal immigrants and all they asked for when they came over was an opportunity, they did it the right way, they did it the way they are supposed to. The only thing that’s changed in eight years since my brother died is the death toll and it’s increased. We were told from the start that there wasn’t a judge in the state that would convict the woman that killed my brother for killing him.
Mareen Maloney, mother of slain young man Matthew Denice, told Breitbart News:
It is reprehensible that President Trump would go back on his campaign promises to the American’s who elected him, especially the Angel parents and families, to make a DACA deal with Democrats. President Trump promised angel parents and families that our loved ones deaths by illegal aliens would not be in vain. President Trump do what you were elected to do and put Americans first.
Angie Morfin, mother of murdered 13-year-old child Ruben Morfin, told Breitbart News this in response to the reports:
I would be very disappointed because of my children and grandchildren, they are stealing there future, they are the ones who have to compete with all the DACA. If that happens I would like to see some kind of screening done, finger prints, back ground check, even a law in place if they kill Americans.
During the course of the 2016 presidential election cycle, then-candidate Trump met with, listened to, and brought on stage at rallies many of the family members of Americans killed by illegal aliens. They told their stories at these rallies, in television interviews, and even on the floor of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Ohio.
In July 2015, Trump met with several of these families in Los Angeles, California. Directly following the meeting, he provided them a platform to tell their stories to a host of media outlets that had gathered on news of a press conference with the presidential candidate. Many of the families have long given an account that they have been ignored by media outlets and politicians. Breitbart News has covered previous events involving these families that media were alerted to ahead of time, yet no outlets came to cover such events as National Day of Remembrance.
In late June, several of the family members who have lost loved ones, often referred to as “angel moms” or “angel” families, announced that they had formed the group Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime (AVIAC). Rep. Steve King (R-IA) participated in the announcement that was made in Washington, D.C. He called it a “privilege” to participate in the launch event and pledged to remain as involved as he can “So America understands the price that Americans have paid for the failure to enforce immigration law.”
On Wednesday night, King tweeted in response to news of the possibility of a deal on DACA, stating that if an Associated Press report on the meeting were true, it is destructive to the Trump base. His next tweet that night quoted a tweet from Trump during the campaign that promised “no amnesty,” King wrote, “@RealDonaldTrump Mr. President, I support your agenda, especially your no amnesty agenda. MAGA!” On Thursday morning King tweeted again, “Reagan led with Amnesty, 1986. Bush43 led with Amnesty ’06, Obama led with Amnesty ’13. All failed so…Trump leads with DACA Amnesty 2017.”
Shortly after landing in Florida on Thursday morning to meet with Hurricane Irma survivors, Trump answered questions from reporters on the airport tarmac. He said:
What we’re doing is we’re doing it in conjunction with the Republicans, we have a very, very good relationship with a lot of people. A lot of people want this to happen, they expect it to happen, and we’ll see if it happens, but we’ll only do it if we get extreme security, if we get not only surveillance, but everything that goes along with surveillance and ultimately we have to have the wall. If we don’t have the wall we’re doing nothing.
Asked about Democrats saying they had a deal at dinner, Trump responded from the Florida tarmac, “There was no deal and they didn’t say they had a deal, in fact, they just put out a statement, they didn’t say that at all.” He went on to indicate that there has to be an understanding that in a short period of time the wall will be funded, but indicated that it could be accomplished in a way that is not included in a DACA bill.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
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