President Donald Trump said at a meeting Tuesday that if Democrats don't agree with border safety measures in exchange for a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program fix, "we'll go with another shutdown."
The comments came during a White House roundtable discussion on MS-13, a gang whose members are primarily of Central American origin.
"We have to strengthen our borders, not by a little bit, but by a lot," Trump said.
"The world is laughing at us because they can't believe these policies," the president continued before commenting on how many countries have nowhere near the open borders that the United States has.
"And if we have to shut it down because the Democrats don't want safety–and unrelated but still related, they don't want to take care of our military–then shut it down. We'll go with another shutdown," Trump said.
The government shut down for three days in January after congress was unable to pass a short term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government. Democrats were unwilling to support a funding measure without passing a fix for DACA recipients. After increased pressure to keep the government operating and a "promise" to Democrats to continue DACA negotiations, Congress ultimately passed a short term funding measure. The CR gave lawmakers until Feb. 8 to pass a budget that includes immigration reform or risk another government shutdown. Democrats responded to a deal proposed by Trump by saying Republicans were holding immigrants "hostage."
When Rep. Barabara Comstock (R., Va.) on Tuesday told the president "We don't need a government shutdown over this," Trump interjected to note the lack of support from Democrats in avoiding that outcome.
"You can say what you want. We are not getting support of the Democrats," Trump said.