Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) criticized President Trump’s proposal for $18 billion to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico over the next decade, ABC News reports.
“The idea of spending some $18 billion on a wall does not make any sense. The American people, in fact, do not want to spend billions a border wall which Trump told us would be paid for by the Mexican government, which of course is not going to be paid for by Mexico. They want to protect Dreamers and working families and that is what we must do,” Sanders wrote on his social media page.
The proposal, according to The Wall Street Journal, includes a request for $18 billion to build more than 700 miles of new and replacement barriers between the U.S. and Mexico, bringing the barrier to nearly 1,000 miles long.
Trump’s promise to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico has become part of the negotiations to create legislation to protect the young, undocumented immigrants, also known as Dreamers, living in the U.S.
The administration also wants a “sweeping set of immigration-enforcement and other policy changes” included in any deal to provide legalization for the Dreamers, The Wall Street Journal reports.
In addition, the president wants more limitations on families sponsoring their relatives, and wants to end the diversity-visa lottery, which seeks to help individuals from countries underrepresented in U.S. immigration come to the U.S. Furthermore, the president also seeks to change the asylum system and to require companies to use the e-Verify system to ensure that their prospective employees are eligible to work.
According to ABC News, during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on “This Week,” Stephanopoulos asked Sanders if there was a possible compromise for the wall in order to protect the Dreamers.
“I don’t think there’s anybody who disagrees that we need strong border security. If the president wants to work with us to make sure we have strong border security, let’s do that,” Sanders responded.
“But the idea of spending some $18 billion on a wall that most people think will not do what he says it will do does not make any sense.”