Last week, President Donald Trump had made it clear that he was willing to find a legislative solution to allow those protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to stay in the country.
Though Trump had said he was open for working with the Democrats to solve the issue, the possibility of arriving at a consensus about the legal framework for continuing DACA is fading in the wake of recent controversy about Trump’s racial comments against African countries.
Trump, on Sunday, tweeted that DACA is probably dead since the Democrats are not interested in it. “DACA is probably dead because the Democrats don’t really want it, they just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our Military,†tweeted Trump.
After having faced severe flak from around the world for making derogatory comments about African countries at a meeting, Trump, on Sunday, said that he was not a racist.
“I’m not a racist. I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed, that I can tell you,†he was quoted as saying by New York Times.
The controversy has, however, led to a verbal spat between the Democrats and the Republicans.
Republican senator David Perdue of Georgia, who attended the meeting at which Trump allegedly made the remark, denied that the president had used the word “shithole.†He also accused Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, of a “gross misrepresentation†of Trump’s words.
Perdue and another Republican senator at the meeting, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, have denied Durbin’s account of the president’s comment.
The rift between the Democrats and the Republicans has made the future of thousands of immigrants uncertain. The lawmakers need to go back to their business as the government funding will expire on Friday.
The fight between the members of both sides took a personal dimension in the Congress where Perdue and Cotton Durbin of lying about the president’s comments. According to New York Times, vulgar comments were exchanged during the meeting.
Jeff Flake, a Republican senator from Arizona has contradicted the arguments of his fellow party men saying that people in the room during Thursday’s meeting told him that the president had used the controversial language.
“I was in a meeting directly afterwards where those who had presented to the president our proposal spoke about the meeting,†he said on This Week. “I heard that account before the account even went public.â€
President Trump has given the Congress a six-month deadline for finding a solution for DACA after announcing to end the program in September.
Democrats have been trying to find a permanent DACA solution by granting funds to the government. Trump has been insisting that there will be no DACA program without the funding of the border wall that he has promised during the presidential elections.