Immigration was a defining issue of the 2016 election. President Trump ran on building a border wall, enforcing the law and making our immigration policy protect American families and benefit American workers, instead of endangering and undermining them.
These promises stood in stark contrast to President Obama’s unilateral, unconstitutional executive order on immigration, known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). He went around Congress and effectively changed the law on his own, giving DACA recipients a false sense of security instead of a permanent solution.
After President Trump was elected, he announced he would give the American people’s representatives in Congress six months to debate the issue and change the law before DACA ended. He also acknowledged that children who were illegally brought to this country at a young age by their parents are in a uniquely difficult situation.
Democrats have fought the President every step of the way and proven that they are willing to lead the country to ruins rather than support border security.
Speaking in the House chamber with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has opposed wall funding, watching over his left shoulder, Trump in his State of the Union address made his second case for the wall in two months.
You can see their ‘enthusiasm’ for yourself:
He paid tribute to the family of an elderly couple killed by an undocumented immigrant last month in Reno, Nevada, and to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who investigates international sex trafficking. In a rejoinder to some Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), who have proposed getting rid of ICE over allegations that the agency has abused its powers in conducting enforcement raids, Trump said: “I will never abolish our heroes from ICE.”
“In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall,” Trump said, referring to legislation during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations to build fencing and other barriers that earned bipartisan support. “But a proper wall never got built. I will get it built.”