Trump offers expanded migrant protections for wall

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - President Donald Trump offered Democrats Saturday expanded legal protections for some migrant groups in exchange for the $5.7 billion he is seeking to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Addressing the country from the White House, Trump said the new plan includes three years of legislative relief for DACA recipients, and an extension of temporary protections for other migrants groups.

Trump said the new plan, which includes roughly $1.6 billion in funding for drug detection technology and humanitarian assistance funds, will be brought to a vote next week by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But it is unlikely to sway enough Democrats who continue to resist any funding for the wall Trump said Mexico would pay for.

Even prior to the formal rollout House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected Trump's offer, calling it "a compilation of several previously rejected initiatives, each of which is unacceptable and in total, do not represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to people’s lives."

"It is unlikely that any one of these provisions alone would pass the House, and taken together, they are a non-starter," she said in a statement.

Trump has worked alongside McConnell to ensure any bill to reopen the government that does not include his border wall funding does not make it through the Republican-held Senate.