WASHINGTON - United We Dream, the Indivisible Project, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), MoveOn, UndocuBlack Network and the Southern Border Communities Coalition released the following statement:

“For 26 days, Trump has held our government hostage as he demands billions for his deadly, harmful and wasteful border wall. During those days, some have floated the idea of a deal where Trump would get his wall in exchange for a ‘DACA/TPS bill.’

“But for us, leaders of organizations that represent millions of progressive, immigrant and border voices, we know that this is a flawed and dangerous idea. Trump has shown that he will not accept any deal that would give permanent protections for immigrant youth or other long-term residents without demanding billions more taxpayer dollars for his mass detention and deportation force, and to further militarize the border in ways that harm our communities and our environment.

“It is clear to us that Trump will use every dollar that goes to deportation agencies – and raid other agencies’ budgets –  to continue attacking immigrants, refugees and communities of color. We reject any deal that would allow him to further criminalize our communities.

“We continue to urge Congress to reject Trump’s mass deportation plans, the hyper-militarization of our southern border communities, to defund the deportation agencies and pass permanent protections for immigrants with TPS, DED and DACA.

“Congress must also work to reopen the government to end the unnecessary harm to the hundreds of thousands of federal workers whose paychecks have been held hostage to Trump’s extortionist tactics.”

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