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U.S. NEWS Monday 15 January 2018

Trump says program to protect ‘Dreamers’ is ‘probably dead’

Continued from Front pathway to citizenship for
the “Dreamers” that would
Republicans and Demo- take up to 12 years, as well
crats were already at odds as $1.6 billion for border
over funding the govern- security, including Trump’s
ment, and the negotiations promised wall along the
became more compli- U.S.-Mexico border.
cated after Democrats — Trump’s staunchest sup-
whose votes are needed to porters consider any
pass a government funding route to citizenship for the
bill — insisted immigration “Dreamers” amnesty for
be included. lawbreakers.
Government funding ex- The president has said any
pires midnight Friday with- deal must include fund-
out a deal in place, and ing for the wall as well as
some government func- changes to make the im-
tions will begin to go dark. migration system a more
Further roiling the talks are merit-based structure.
comments by Trump during The debate over DACA’s
an Oval Office meeting in fate came as lawmakers
which he questioned the faced questioning about In this Dec. 6, 2017 photo, demonstrators hold up balloons during an immigration rally in support
need to admit more Hai- whether Trump is racist. of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and Temporary Protected Status (TPS),
tians to the U.S., along with Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, the programs, near the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Casting a cloud over already tenuous negotiations,
Africans from “shithole” first black female Repub- President Donald Trump said Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018, that DACA, a program that protects immigrants
countries, according to lican in Congress and the who were brought to the U.S. as children and live here illegally, is “probably dead” and blamed
people briefed on the con- daughter of Haitian immi- Democrats, days before some government functions would start shutting down unless a deal is
versation but not autho- grants, denounced Trump’s reached. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
rized to describe it publicly. comments as racist and
He also said in the Thursday called on him to apologize.
meeting he would prefer “I think that would show
immigrants from countries real leadership,” she said
like Norway instead. on CNN’s “State of the
The White House has not Union” on Sunday.
denied that Trump said the Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga.,
word “shithole,” though who was at Thursday’s Oval
Trump did push back on Office meeting, insisted
some depictions of the Sunday that Trump did not
meeting. say “shithole” in referring to
A confidant of Trump’s told African countries.
The Associated Press that “I am telling you that he
the president spent Thurs- did not use that word. And
day evening calling friends I’m telling you it’s a gross
and outside advisers to misrepresentation,” Perdue
judge their reaction on said on ABC’s “This Week.”
his inflammatory remarks. He said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-
Trump wasn’t apologetic Ill., and Sen.
and denied he was racist, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,
instead blaming the media were mistaken in indicat-
for distorting his meaning, ing earlier that that was the
said the confidant, who case.
wasn’t authorized to dis- Homeland Security Secre-
close a private conversa- tary Kirstjen Nielsen, who
tion and spoke on condi- also attended Thursday’s
tion of anonymity. meeting at the Oval Of-
The president also rejected fice, said, “I don’t recall
as insufficient an immigra- that specific phrase being
tion deal drafted by the used.”
bipartisan group of law- Nielsen did dispute, how-
makers who attended that ever, Trump’s assertion
meeting. that DACA was “probably
The deal had included a dead.”q