Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Donald Trump Should Be Celebrated For Upholding Constitution In DACA Decision
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders opened her press briefing today insisting President Donald Trump was faced with the “immediate shutdown” of the DACA program by legal challenges, and compelled to announce he was ending it. Trump’s Tuesday morning announcement, made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, initiates an “orderly shutdown” over two years.
“President Trump took the responsible and constitutional step” today, Sanders insisted to a non-responsible crowd. Now it’s time for a “rested” Congress to come up with comprehensive immigration reform that includes the 800,000 DREAMers impacted by the end of DACA, Sanders said. And if Congress “can’t do it they should get out of the way” and let others be elected to their offices who will deliver immigration reform, she argued.
Press pushed back, reminding Sanders that Trump vowed to handle DREAMers with “great heart.”
Sanders was ready for that one, arguing Trump is allowing for an “orderly process to take place” and that the “most heartless thing” she has seen all day is “Democrats like Nancy Pelosi.”
Pelosi and Dems, she said, already are using the DACA announcement to fund raise, “politicizing the issue” instead of doing their job. Sanders advised Pelosi to “spend less time fundraising and more time finding solutions” that, had they done so years ago, “we would not be in this position in the first place.”
“It’s not cold-hearted for the President to uphold law. We are nation of law,” Sanders said stoutly. “It’s Congress’ job to legislate,” she said, adding, “we should be celebrating the president upholding the Constitution he was elected to do.”
Asked if Trump supports DACA on its merits, Sanders tap-danced, saying, “He wants to be able to make a decision with compassion but at the same time you can’t allow emotion to govern. … The President wrestled with this decision all through the weekend.”
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