President Donald Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday that it "would be wonderful" to help so-called "Dreamers," but he said he wants "tremendous border regulation," including the security wall on the border with Mexico, "in return."
Hannity led into the conversation, saying there has been "fear" that Democrats will ultimately get what they want, without Republicans getting what they want in return. He went on to highlight, however, that Trump has said there will be no deal on the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration program unless he gets something in return.
Part of that, he said, is the border wall. Trump explained the administration has now built five wall prototypes, and said they are "really looking good."
"Our country needs it," Trump said. "We need it not only for people, but we need it for the drugs that are pouring into our country. We have drugs that are pouring into our country."
Trump reflected on a previous conversation he had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the border wall that Israel built after previously having an open border. Netanyahu told the president the security measure has prevented 99.9 percent of people from crossing over the border illegally.
Natanyahu, back in January, tweeted his agreement with the president over the success of Israel's border security.
https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/825371795972825089
Some experts argue against generalizing that the Israeli border wall is the sole reason for the drop in illegal immigration, and managing security at Israel's border is not necessarily equivalent to those at the geographically large U.S. border, according to PolitiFact.
Hannity further asked Trump whether any immigration deal would involve amnesty or chain migration.
"No amnesty," Trump said. "Chain migration is one of the disasters. You allow one person in and that one person brings in 10 or 12 people."
"No DACA until you fund the wall?" Hannity asked.
Trump said he understands that many people in the DACA program have jobs and are in the military, but he said if he is going to make a deal, then he will have to get something in return.
"What I want is tremendous border regulation," he said. "I want the wall, and we are going to get other things, and we are going to see if we can work something out."
The president said it would be "wonderful" to solve the DACA issue, and added that many of his conservative colleagues are on the same page, wanting to support the "Dreamers," and also wanting to secure the country's borders.
"It would be wonderful to solve the DACA problem. And by the way, even my most conservative, hard-line friends in the Republican Party would really like to be able to solve [the problem impacting 800,000 people."
Approximately 800,000 people currently fall under the DACA program, which provides legal protections to illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors.