Trump to address immigration, a key campaign issue, in State of the Union

World Today

U.S. President Donald Trump will likely talk about immigration – one of his key campaign issues – in his speech on the State of the Union. CGTN’s Sean Callebs takes a look at where Trump stands.

 

 

Immigration has been among the most controversial measures in his administration, as President Trump readies his first State of the Union Address.

Trump’s drawn a line in the sand and is demanding a wall between the U.S. and Mexico if he is to move forward on immigration reform.

“We need the wall for security. We need the wall for safety. We need the wall for stopping drugs from pouring in,” Trump has stated.

Audelia Avila Rodriguez, a resident of Tijuana, Mexico, disagrees with that sentiment. “We are not animals,” she said. “We and our relatives are not monsters that can be kicked out of a place. What we are looking for is for our future.”

In his address, Trump is expected to talk about so-called “Dreamers” – children brought to the U.S. illegally who have been living, working, and contributing to society. DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, runs out in March.

“Any solution has to include the wall,” Trump said, “because without the wall, it all doesn’t work.”

Trump is willing to give some 1.8 million people living in the U.S. a path to citizenship if he gets $25 billion to build the wall along the southern border. Neither Democrats or Republicans are happy with the president’s proposal, so he will have to find a way to move forward in a bipartisan fashion.

“I would imagine,” said Trump, “that the people in the room, both Democrat or Republican – I really believe they’re going to come up with a solution to the DACA problem.”

Wages are rising, unemployment is down, and financial markets are booming.

That’s all good news, but Trump’s toughest sales job to Congress could very well be immigration. While he is open to helping children brought to this country illegally, he wants to limit the ability of their parents to stay with – or join – them in the U.S.