DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/POLITICS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Senators worked Tuesday [1-16-18] to salvage a bipartisan plan to protect ‘Dreamers’—young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents—as the divide grew over an immigration deal seen as key to avoiding a government shutdown this weekend.
The White House complicated the negotiations by insisting that Congress allocate billions more for President Donald Trump’s promised border wall with Mexico.
Without a spending agreement by 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the government will partially shut down operations. Many Senate Democrats were noncommittal Tuesday over whether they would allow a shutdown in an election year in which control of the Senate is in play.
Republicans were already preparing to accuse Democrats of shutting services because they didn’t get an immigration deal. But Democrats said Mr. Trump’s dismissal of ‘shithole countries’ in Africa in a closed meeting last week with lawmakers positioned him as the person who upset the negotiations.
The immigration issue is growing more urgent as the calendar ticks toward March 5, the date Mr. Trump set for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, to end officially. Mr. Trump killed the Obama-era program in September and urged Congress to negotiate a replacement.”
-Laura Meckler and Kristina Peterson, “Disputes Threaten ‘Dreamer’ Deal and a Government Shutdown,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 16, 2018 10:05pm