Tom Cotton: 'Let's See How' Shutting Down Government Over DACA Amnesty 'Works Out for' Democrats

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) hinted that a shutdown of the federal government by Democrats unless they are given an expansive amnesty for potentially millions of illegal aliens would not “work out” well for Democrat Senators and Congressman trying to get re-elected this year.

Following Senate Democrats’ near end to discussions with President Trump’s administration on the issue of immigration, Cotton says some Democrats are now threatening to shut down the federal government unless nearly 800,000 illegal aliens shielded from deportation by the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are given amnesty.

Cotton, however, warned that if Democrats were to shut down the government over amnesty, it could have a detrimental impact on their re-election efforts in states like Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Montana.

Towards the end of 2017, Democrats in the House and Senate made similar threats that they would shut down the federal government over an amnesty for illegal aliens. But the left-wing party quickly backed off the plan when public opinion polls showed Americans were increasingly opposed to a shutdown over a year-end amnesty that would further suppress the wages of American workers.

For example, in December 2017, a Morning Consult/POLITICO poll revealed how unpopular a plan to shut down the federal government over amnesty was, even among Democrat voters who are the most sympathetic to the illegal alien population, as Breitbart News reported.

According to the poll, only 34 percent of Democrats said it was “definitely worth” shutting down the government in order to give amnesty to DACA illegal aliens.

In just a month, overall support for a DACA amnesty had fallen. In November 2017, 29 percent of Americans believed DACA amnesty was a priority.

A month later, only 25 percent — or one in four Americans — of all Americans surveyed said they believed the government should be shut down in order to give out a pathway to U.S. citizenship for illegal aliens.

Another poll, as Breitbart News reported, at the end of 2017 revealed the unpopularity of shutting down the government for an amnesty with swing voters.

Only 37 percent of swing voters said in December 2017 that an end-of-the-year push by the Republican establishment and Democrats to give amnesty to DACA illegal aliens should be prioritized. Additionally, only 18 percent of Independents said DACA amnesty was “extremely important priority” for them.

In contrast, 25 percent of swing voters wanted the federal government to prioritize reducing prescription drug prices and reducing the number of Americans dying from opioid abuse, two issues Trump promised to his supporters that he would tackle under his populist administration.

For the past six months, Trump remained opened to striking a deal whereby legal immigration levels were cut in half in order to relieve America’s working and middle class and raise their wages, all while giving amnesty to the nearly 800,000 DACA illegal aliens – even though such a deal would run counter to his commitment to voters that he would never consider amnesty until pro-American immigration reforms were enacted and implemented.