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One of popular voter loser Donald Trump’s signature campaign promises—one that he was boasting about as recently as this past weekend, during a deluded, unhinged speech in Pennsylvania—will come tumbling down this week, with the reported spending agreement that will keep the federal government running through September. That spending agreement doesn’t include a single peso for the border wall that Mr. “Art of the Deal” said Mexico was supposed to pay for:
Trump had hoped that the new budget would include billions in funding for the wall, even threatening to withhold Obamacare subsidies from it (and, therefore, from lower income people on Obamacare) if it didn’t include funding for the wall. But Democrats refused to budge, and Trump backed off that threat within a few days. Last week, he said that a budget that increased funding for border security instead might be enough.
“This is a stinging defeat for a President who made this a cornerstone of his candidacy and presidency,” said immigrant rights group America’s Voice. It’s also a stinging defeat for a party that controls every branch of government. Nice.
Poison pill amendments to defund sanctuary cities (a federal judge already gave him a smack down a few days ago) and limit DACA were also defeated. The agreement also “does not allow DHS to hire additional ICE and CPB agents beyond the current Congressionally-authorized levels.” However, the deal does include $1.5 billion more in immigration enforcement, with AV noting that the government “already spends more on immigration enforcement than all other federal law enforcement efforts combined.” Still, the amount is half of what Trump had requested, and that “comes with strict limitations that the Trump administration use it only for technology investments and repairs to existing fencing and infrastructure,” according to the Washington Post.
“The bottom line is that Republicans got more money, Democrats limited the amount and limited the damage that money will do,” notes AV, and it’ll set the stage for the next budget fight when Republicans will undoubtedly try to ramp up his deportation force and attacks on immigrant communities.
It’ll be up to the resistance to continue fighting back. These wins, big and small, show that your calls and advocacy work. Keep it up, because families are depending on you.