Sen. Chuck Schumer on Thursday mocked President Trump’s insistence on building a border wall with Mexico — calling it a “Game of Thrones” solution that won’t work in the 21st century.
“It’s a medieval solution to a modern problem, a ‘Game of Thrones’ idea for a world that is a lot closer to star wars,” he said on the Senate floor.
“We Democrats are for border security. We’re not for the wall. We’ll never be for the wall. It’s expensive. It’s ineffective. And it involves a lot of difficult eminent domain – taking people’s property—and apparently, it’s not being paid for by Mexico.”
The wall, he added, could be breached with ladders and tunnels, and other forms of high-tech surveillance, including drones, would be more effective.
The senate minority leader said he’s been watching Fox News lately to better understand where the GOP is coming from.
“I listened to Fox News this morning. I’m starting to do that to see what’s going on over there. And they keep saying the president promised a wall in the campaign. Yeah. He also promised that Mexico would pay for it. Where’s Mexico? They’ve said 12 times they are not paying for it,” Schumer said.
He also argued that progress had been made at a White House dinner Wednesday night with the president and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi despite Trump’s comments on Thursday that no agreement had been reached on the fate of the 800,000 Dreamers in the US.
“We all agreed about a framework to pass DACA protections and additional border security measures, excluding the wall,” he said, referring to the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program.
“We agreed the that president would support enshrining the DACA protections into law, and the president would also encourage the House and Senate to act.”
The details still need to be negotiated, he added.
“While both sides agreed the wall would not be any part of this agreement, the president made clear he intends to pursue it at a later time and we made clear that we would continue to oppose it,” Schumer said.
“Details will matter but it was a very, very positive step for the president to commit to DACA protections without insisting on the inclusion of or even a debate about the border wall.”
