GOP rep: We want DACA bill, but Dems want ‘an open border’

Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis) on Monday said the refusal of Democrats to back border security measures is standing in the way of a deal on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

During an interview on “Fox & Friends,” Duffy said Republicans, like Democrats, want to see a DACA bill, but Democrats are pushing for “an open border.”

“They basically stopped this funding of the government because they want a DACA bill and frankly Brian, and you’ve heard this all day, we want a DACA bill too,” Duffy told Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade.

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“But we also want to fix the problems on the border that let all these folks come in unlawfully. And Democrats want to have an open border. They don’t want to secure it and now they are trying to leverage and hold hostage the American government so they can get what they want.”

The government shutdown, which stretched into its third day on Monday, has largely centered on immigration, specifically the DACA program that shields undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation.

President Trump previously said his proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border would be required for “any DACA approval,” but a White House aide on Sunday signaled that the president is open to a fix for the program’s recipients.

Republicans and Democrats have pointed fingers at each other in the course of the negotiations, which led to a partial government shutdown that began at midnight on Friday after the Senate failed to pass a short-term funding bill.

“But they still think they can have open borders and free DACA,” Duffy added in the interview. “That’s not going to work.”