Donald Trump calls for government shutdown to force immigration deal
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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would welcome a federal government shutdown if Congress is not able to agree to changes in immigration law that he said would prevent criminals from entering the country.
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WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - President Donald Trump said he would welcome another government shutdown if Democrats refuse to meet his demands for an immigration overhaul, just as lawmakers close in on a deal to avoid another halt in federal operations.
"If we don't change it, let's have a shutdown," Trump said to law enforcement officials who met with him at the White House to discuss MS-13, a predominantly Latino gang whose members include undocumented immigrants.
"We'll do a shutdown, and it's worth it for our country. I'd love to see a shutdown if we don't get this stuff taken care of."
US immigration law, Trump said, contains "loopholes where killers are allowed to come into this country and continue to kill."
The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, said in the meeting that one example of such a loophole is that authorities are not allowed to deny foreigners entry to the country based on gang membership alone.
Representative Barbara Comstock, a Virginia Republican who was at the meeting, told Trump a shutdown would not be necessary, and that there was bipartisan support for a crackdown on violent gangs.
"I think both sides have learned that a government shutdown was bad," said Comstock. "It wasn't good for them, and we do have bipartisan support on these things."
"Barbara, we are not getting support from the Democrats," Trump replied. "You can say what you want, we are not getting the support from the Democrats."
Comstock represents a suburban district outside Washington, DC that Democrats are targeting for a takeover in November's midterm elections. The constituency is home to many federal workers that would be furloughed during a shutdown.
Trump's comments came as congressional leaders are negotiating a deal on spending legislation to avoid another shutdown.
Those talks have largely excluded the issue of immigration, which was at the heart of a brief shutdown last month.
Trump rejected a proposed deal from Democrats that would have protected undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation, in exchange for some funding for the president's proposed wall on the Mexican border.
The White House has insisted that the legislation also limit legal immigration by restricting people from sponsoring family members to join them in the US, and by ending a program that awards visas to people from countries with low rates of migration to the US.
"I would shut it down over this issue," Trump repeated. "Without borders, we don't have a country."
