Trump says DACA deal must be tied to security

US President Donald Trump said yesterday any deal on protection for illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children must be tied to border security and disputed Democratic congressional leaders who said they had reached a deal on the issue.

“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,” Trump wrote in one of a series of posts on Twitter, adding that “the Wall... will continue to be built.”

The president was referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created by former President Barack Obama. Trump said last week he would end it in six months and called on the US Congress to act. He later said he might “revisit” the issue if lawmakers do not.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives minority leader Nancy Pelosi had said they came to an agreement with Trump at a dinner meeting at the White House on Wednesday.

The two said in a statement on Wednesday night they agreed to quickly enact protection for immigrant children dubbed DREAMers along with a border security package that did not fund the wall.

Pelosi later said in a letter to House Democrats that she and Schumer “insisted that the bipartisan DREAM Act would be the basis for that protection and that we would review border security measures that didn’t include building a wall.”

“Hopefully, we can get this all done in a matter of weeks,” she added.

The White House also disputed any deal regarding the border wall.

“While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Twitter on Wednesday night.

Trump has repeatedly promised to build a wall along the southern US border aimed at keeping out immigrants and drugs. 

Still, Trump yesterday appeared to acknowledge the complexity of the issue of such immigrant children, many of whom are now young adults. A poll this week showed 72 percent of nearly 1,700 people surveyed backed legal protection, not deportation.