Democrats are opposing President Donald Trump's immigration agenda from an "unreasonable negotiating position," specifically where it relates to Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and funding for the border wall, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Sunday.
"I hope the Democrats will come off their unreasonable negotiating position and be willing to compromise," Sen. Cotton told ABC's "This Week" about the early January agenda items of the budget, spending and immigration.
Cotton pointed to the existing U.S. law in defending Trump's actions and immigration policies, which have been fought endlessly by his opposition – often with no legal standing.
"The president has said all along that while President Obama acted unlawfully by giving them legal status without an act of Congress, that he wants to solve this problem with a compromise piece of legislation," Cotton told host George Stephanopoulos. "We've been working on it now for four months.
"In addition to having some funding for the border wall and border security, we are also going to have to take steps to stop unskilled and low skilled immigration coming into this country, like ending chain migration and ending the diversity lottery," he said.
There have been "unheralded accomplishments" by the Trump administration to get "unskilled and low-skilled immigration under control," Cotton contended, adding "wages for people who work with their hands and work on their feet – the kind of jobs where you have to take a shower after you get off work, not before you go to work – have increased at their fastest pace yet."
Despite the Trump administration's progress on the economy and jobs and the legal backing on immigration, Democrats are still ironically making "demands," Cotton lamented.
"Well, George, as you rightly said, those are Democratic demands – as they're often portrayed that the Republicans only make demands, while Democrats negotiate," Cotton told Stephanopoulos.
"Sen. [Dick] Durbin's, D-Ill., DREAM Act would cost $26 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. So, Sen. Durbin should reconsider who is making unreasonable, costly demands if he's criticizing the president for requesting $18 billion to secure our southern border that creates such a huge magnet for illegal immigration and crime and drugs."
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