Donald Trump will not demand that funding for his border wall with Mexico be linked to legislation giving legal status to so-called Dreamers, a top White House aide said on Tuesday.
Marc Short, director of legislative affairs, told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor event: “The president is committed to sticking by his commitment that a physical structure [on the US-Mexico border] is needed to protect the American people.”
But, he added, referring to the Deferred Status for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program cancelled by Trump last week: “Whether that is part of a Daca package or another, I’m not going to prejudge which package.”
There had been speculation that Trump would use Democrats’ wish to see Daca reinstated as leverage to ensure construction on a border wall, his signature campaign promise which remains far from becoming reality. Democrats have long insisted they would not vote for any government funding bill that includes funding for the controversial border barrier.
Daca, which the administration cancelled this month, was the result of an executive order by Barack Obama that protected roughly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation. It is now set to expire in early March.
Short also ducked a question on whether Trump would support a bill granting Daca recipients a path to citizenship. “I am not going to state on that,” he said.
Trump has long campaigned against “amnesty” and path to legal status for those who illegally immigrated to the US.
Short also said that the White House did not believe additional congressional action was needed to justify military action in the Middle East and Central Asia. “The president believes current authorization for use of force is sufficient right now and is not intending to change it,” he said. US deployment of military forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria remains tied to congressional authorization of use of military force first passed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11.
He also said that he disagreed with the former White House aide Steve Bannon’s statement that congressional Republican leadership was trying to undermine Trump’s agenda. “I disagree with Steve,” said Short.
