The Trump White House will issue a proposal to address the crisis that 800,000 Dreamers and other young immigrants are facing in exchange of $25 billion for border wall funding plus myriad, extreme cuts to family and legal immigration, according to news reports. In return for a path to citizenship for young immigrants, Trump wants money for a senseless wall, gut the country’s legal immigration system, and ramp a nativist anti-environmental agenda.

The following statement is from Raul Garcia, Earthjustice legislative counsel:

“President Trump is reaching a new low by explicitly holding Dreamers as ransom to fund a ridiculous border wall project that Mexico was never going to pay for. Not only that, he is holding Dreamers’ future hostage to continue his relentless attack on immigrant families, border communities, and the environment they depend on. This move is unequivocally callous, particularly because Trump himself created this crisis when he ended DACA.

“The facts, though neglected by some, have not changed. Dreamers are Americans at heart, and nearly 90 percent of Americans want Congress to pass the DREAM Act. Moreover, in a time of budget cuts and historically low undocumented immigration, a border wall is a waste of taxpayer money that neglects the real needs of our border communities. Our southern border region needs funding for schools, healthcare, and work training programs, not walls that will do nothing but harm the environment. Our call to the president is clear: Pass a clean DREAM Act with no border wall.”