Government Reopening Puts Onus on Democrats to Negotiate Immigration Enforcement in Good Faith, Says FAIR

(January 25, 2019, Washington, D.C.) —The following statement was issued by Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) regarding President Trump’s recent remarks ending the 36-day government shutdown: 

“For the past five weeks, Democrats have demanded that reopening the government must be a prerequisite to negotiations on President Trump’s demands for funding for border security, including a border wall. The government has now been reopened and the Democrats have run out of excuses not to negotiate in good faith.

“We now have three weeks to find out whether reopening the government was a talking point or a true commitment on the part of congressional Democrats to address a national crisis. Our national illegal immigration and border emergency isn’t going away in three weeks, but that’s enough time to approve the first step of solving the problem by approving the president’s request for wall funding and asylum reforms.

“Today’s Continuing Resolution agreement should also clear the way for the president to deliver his State of the Union address to Congress and the American people. The security of our borders and the integrity of our immigration and asylum process is critical to the state of our union. The president deserves the opportunity to make his case directly to the American people for why a border wall and reforms to our asylum and detention policies are urgently needed.

“The president has acted in good faith to reopen the government. The ball is now in Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer’s court to demonstrate theirs.”

Contact: Matthew Tragesser, 202-328-7004