ACLU on Trump Promise to Shut Down Government Over Border Wall

WASHINGTON — In a meeting with Democratic leadership today, President Trump pledged to veto a budget agreement for the Department of Homeland Security if it did not include his requested billions in funding for a border wall.

Lorella Praeli, deputy political director at the American Civil Liberties Union, had the following response:

“Trump’s petulant performance in the Oval Office today shows his negotiating position for what it really is: one of a president so obsessed with his wasteful, unnecessary border wall that he promised, on camera, to withhold paychecks from tens of thousands of federal workers if he doesn’t get his way.

“The way forward is clear: Members of Congress should continue to fulfill their obligation to the people they were elected to represent and reject Trump’s border wall. The ACLU will continue to amplify the voices of communities at the border, immigrant families, and all those who refuse to give the president a single taxpayer dollar to waste on a border wall.”