Trump: ‘I’d love to see a shutdown’ unless Dems fix immigration

President Trump said Tuesday that he would “love to see a shutdown” over immigration if Democrats don’t come to the table to negotiate on border security and other stiff enforcement measures, escalating the stakes with less than four weeks to go before a deadline for action.

“If we have to shut it down because the Democrats don’t want safety … let’s shut it down,” the president said at a White House roundtable discussion on MS-13 gang violence and illegal immigration.

The tough talk seemed to upend congressional Republicans’ carefully crafted strategy of avoiding shutdown threats, hoping to pin blame on Democrats if the government did tumble into another stoppage.

Rep. Barbara Comstock, a Virginia Republican who represents a number of federal employees, told Mr. Trump that she thought lawmakers could reach an immigration deal without resorting to the worst-case scenario.

“We don’t need a government shutdown on this,” she said.

Mr. Trump was insistent, however: “You can say what you want. We are not getting support of the Democrats.”

The White House said Mr. Trump isn’t cheerleading for a shutdown and hopes the government keeps running, contingent on a Democratic agreement to a two-year budget and to laws cracking down on illegal immigration as part of a deal to legalize immigrant Dreamers.

It’s not clear what shutdown Mr. Trump envisions.

A government funding deadline is looming this week, but Democrats agreed to decouple that from the immigration talks.

Meanwhile, the deadline Mr. Trump set for dealing with Dreamers is March 5, which is when his phaseout of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals deportation amnesty fully kicks in. But no government funding or debt deadline is tied to March 5.

“We are not advocating for the shutdown,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “The president’s encouraging people to do their jobs.”