Steve King: I won’t leave Trump over DACA

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said Saturday that he will continue to work with President Trump on his agenda, despite disagreeing with Trump’s dealings with Democrats to put the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program into law.

“I’m going to stick with President Trump, for all the rest of his agenda. And I’m going to do everything I can to help him keep his campaign promises,” King said on CNN. 

King was one of the first Republicans to lash out this week over Trump’s reported dealing with Democrats on Wednesday night to enshrine DACA protections in law.

@RealDonaldTrump If AP is correct, Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible. https://t.co/uJjxk6uX5g

— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) September 14, 2017

{mosads}

Trump announced earlier this month that his administration would phase out DACA, an Obama-era program that has shielded about 800,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation. His decision allowed Congress six months to pass legislation protecting those immigrants.

King had predicted that Trump’s “base will leave him” if he continues to work on plans securing protections for DACA recipients after promising to abolish them. But the hardline immigration lawmaker said Saturday he remains committed to helping Trump fulfill the rest of his promises. 

“It would be petulant to walk away from a president because you disagree with him on a single issue. There’s a whole lot of things we need to accomplish,” King said.

King’s comments come after Trump met with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday to discuss the future of DACA.

While the Democratic leaders announced in a statement after Wednesday’s meeting with Trump that they had made progress on a plan, Trump later said that no deal had been made, and demanded increased border security measures while saying a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border would “come later.”