Hogan Gidley: Democrats ‘won’t lift a finger’ to help White House on immigration – Washington Examiner

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley says Democrats refuse to work with the White House on a plan to deal with illegal immigration.

He appeared on Fox News hours after President Trump confirmed reports that he is considering a policy of placing illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities. Guest host Dan Bongino asked Gidley if Democrats are working with the White House on “any substantive proposal” that would ensure people who enter the U.S. do so by the law.

“Absolutely not,” Gidley said. “I’ve heard no particular plan at all from Democrats.”

He said Democrats “won’t lift a finger” to work with the White House to help solve the immigration issue, preferring to score political points than devising a real immigration solution.

“They’re choosing to stand with hundreds of thousands of people who pour into the country illegally and unlawfully as opposed to hundreds of millions of American citizens,” Gidley said. “They cannot and will not address this issue at all. I guess it’s just political because Donald Trump is in the White House and they think they can get these people in the country and get them to vote for them one day.”

Earlier in the day, Trump endorsed the idea of gathering up illegal immigrants and sending them to places such as California where there are sanctuary cities that have policies in place preventing them from cooperating with federal officials on immigration.

Trump tweeted Democrats are “unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws” and said the “Radical Left always seems to have an open borders, Open Arms policy – so this should make them very happy!”

Democrats were outraged by the proposal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said such a plan is “unworthy of the presidency.”

Gidley said the White House is asking Democrats which sanctuary cities they want illegal immigrants to go and federal officials will be “happy” to take them there.

The Trump administration is in the middle of a massive shakeup of its top immigration officials, which has seen the departure of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and others in favor of a more hard-line approach, as there is sudden surge in family units attempting to cross into the United States illegally, which is overwhelming the nation’s border security system.

Although Gidley says Democrats won’t speak with the White House about immigration, Democrats say they are ready to deal with Republicans in Congress.

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said this week they are both ready to sit down together to try to work out a long-elusive deal on immigration reform.

Trump declared a border emergency in February, which would allow him to move government funds to build a wall along the southern border. The order prompted a swift legal challenge from 16 states.

Trump said Wednesday he will need to send more troops to the southern border after an increase in illegal crossings into the U.S., and after he dispatched 3,750 troops to the border in February, bringing the number of troops on the border to 6,000 in addition to Customs and Border Protection agents.