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No Amnesty: Trump Shoots Down Dem Report of Immigrant 'Dreamer' Deal

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President Donald Trump says there's no deal yet on "Dreamers," disputing a report from Democrat leaders.

House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Charles Schumer claimed Wednesday night they had struck a deal with President Trump to protect hundreds of thousands of "Dreamers" children of immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally while beefing up border security.

But Thursday Trump shot down those reports.

"We're not looking at citizenship, we're not looking at amnesty. We're looking at allowing people to stay here," he said. "Ultimately we have to have the wall. The wall will come later."

Schumer and Pelosi had made their announcement after having dinner in the White House with President Trump, saying:

"We had a very productive meeting at the White House with the president. The discussion focused on DACA. We agreed 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."

The president denied their statement in a tweet Thursday morning saying, "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."

On Thursday, President Trump said that "ultimately," funding for a border wall with Mexico must be part of any immigration deal. But he said that funding can come at a later date.

But he also tweeted that no one wants to kick the "Dreamers" out of the U.S.

Schumer and Pelosi said the deal would make permanent provisions for President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protected some 800,000 Dreamers from deportation and granted them work permits and access to education.

Today Pelosi said, "We had an agreement to move forward, and our view with the DREAM act as the basis for how we protect the DREAMers and for further discussions on what provisions relating to the border might be in an accompanying bill as we go forward. I trust the president in that regard."

And House Speaker Paul Ryan announced "There is no agreement. The president and the chief of staff called me from Air Force 1 today to discuss what was discussed. And it was a discussion, not an agreement or a negotiation."

"You cannot fix DACA without fixing the root cause of our problem. We do not have control over our borders. So we need border security and enforcement as part of any agreement. I think that's something the Democrats are beginning to understand," Ryan continued.

Last week, Trump told Congress to pass legislation to help the young immigrants before he officially ends the DACA program in six months.

"We agreed 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," Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement.

The White House responded quickly that there was no agreement to end plans to build the wall.

"While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted.

Earlier Wednesday, Sanders said the president is "committed to the wall. It doesn't have to be tied to DACA, but it's important and he will get it done."

The move appears to be part of a presidential pivot to bipartisanship.

"This is a positive step toward the president's strong commitment to bipartisan solutions for the issues most important to all Americans," a White House statement said.

Last week, Trump cut a deal with Democrats to pass funding for Hurricane Harvey relief and raise the debt limit to keep the government running for the next three months.

"More and more we're trying to work things out together," Trump said Wednesday.

"If you look at some of the greatest legislation ever passed, it was done on a bipartisan manner. And so that's what we're going to give a shot," he said.

The president had already met earlier in the day Wednesday with moderate lawmakers from both parties at the White House to discuss tax reform.

He said he still wants a 15 percent rate for businesses and would like a "much lower" one for individuals, focused on the middle class. The president said the wealthy will not benefit from his plan, and their taxes might even go up.

"If they have to go higher, they'll go higher, frankly," Trump said.

Trump says he's primarily concerned with the middle class and a plan that may increase jobs.

Still, the president's bipartisan push is raising questions among some people about his loyalty to the GOP, but the White House disputed that Wednesday after the meeting on taxes.

"The idea that the Republican Party ideas are not represented in that room is just ridiculous," Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said. "This president's done more for bipartisanship in the last eight days than Obama did in eight years."

Meanwhile, Speaker Ryan says the White House and congressional Republicans will release an outline of their tax reform plan by the end of the month as members of both parties will try to figure out their way forward on tough issues like taxes and immigration.

But Trump's new tactics are angering some Republicans and those on the Right who have long questioned Trump's allegiance to conservative ideals.

David French, senior writer for the National Review, tweeted, "It's all fun and games until Trump makes a deal with Schumer on the next SCOTUS nominee."

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About The Author

Mark
Martin

Mark Martin currently serves as a reporter and anchor at CBN News, reporting on all kinds of issues, from military matters to alternative fuels. Mark has reported internationally in the Middle East. He traveled to Bahrain and covered stories on the aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Mark also anchors CBN News Midday on the CBN Newschannel and fills in on the anchor desk for CBN News' Newswatch and The 700 Club. Prior to CBN News, Mark worked at KFSM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Fort Smith, Arkansas. There he served as a weekend morning producer, before being promoted to general