INTERVIEW – Mark Krikorian, Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies

• IMMIGRATION NEWS / BORDER WALL / JUDGE RULING:
• Trump backs down on border wall funding. Donald Trump has indicated he will scrap plans to find cash for his border wall in this week’s spending bill. The president’s close adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said funding for the wall would be left out of a budget measure that must pass by Friday. Building the wall, paid for by Mexico, was a key campaign promise. Democrats had threatened to block the bill if money was earmarked for the wall, so its omission may now avert a government shutdown. But the president insisted on Twitter that he still supported the wall and that it would be built.
• Congressional Republicans offer Democrats government funding deal that does not include new funds for border wall.  Congressional Republicans have offered Democrats a government funding deal that does not include new funds for the construction of a border wall, according to congressional aides familiar with the offer. The move from GOP leaders comes as Capitol Hill scrambles to pass a government funding measure by midnight Friday to avert a shutdown on President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office. The latest proposal doesn’t include funding for construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, but would allocate money to other border security initiatives, such as surveillance technology. News of the offer was first reported by The Washington Post. “I think sometimes we get hung up on the semantics rather than really looking at what a really good system should include,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota, pointing to border security elements that have bipartisan support like technology and personnel.
• Federal judge blocks Trump’s executive order that would defund sanctuary cities: A federal judge in San Francisco is blocking President Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities. The executive order sought to block federal funding to sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with federal immigration agencies. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has warned that sanctuary cities are harboring illegal immigrants who are criminals while city attorney Dennis Herrerra called the executive order a “bully tactic.”