President Trump and Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer have reached a tentative agreement to beef up border security in exchange for providing a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants known as “Dreamers,” reports Politico. (Trump tweeted Thursday that there is “no deal” yet.) The framework, hatched at a dinner hosted by Trump, would exclude funding for the border wall, Pelosi and Schumer said. The agreement does not so far include House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY), whom Trump spurned for Pelosi and Schumer on a fiscal deal last week.
An aide with knowledge of the meeting said Trump made clear that he would continue pushing for the wall, just not as part of this deal. The agreement came as a surprise to most Republican leaders on Capitol Hill. Republicans said they were perplexed that Trump was backing away from his core campaign promises. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) said if the deal is true, the “Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible.” Trump spent all day Wednesday talking about cutting such a deal, floating a similar framework while huddling with bipartisan members of the House Problem Solvers Caucus. “He said, ‘We got to get the wall done but maybe we could do them separately,’” said one person in the room, several hours before Trump’s meeting with Democratic leaders. “He said maybe we do border security, but maybe not the wall.” It was not clear what new border security measures would be approved. This spring, Congress approved more than $1 billion in new border security.