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Rep. Chu Statement on Deal to End Government Shutdown

January 25, 2019

Washington, DC — Today, Donald Trump announced a deal to reopen the government for three weeks, ending the pointless government shutdown which has forced 800,000 federal workers and millions of contractors to go without pay for over a month. Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27) released the following statement:

"This agreement to end the shutdown without funding for Trump's border wall confirms what we have known from the beginning: there is no security crisis at the border. This fake crisis was just the latest political stunt from a reality show president. It is deeply tragic that so many Americans had to suffer during this completely unnecessary shutdown. Now that Trump has agreed to back down and release the workers he had been using as hostages, we can get back to governing as we should. That includes a debate on actual border security, which, unlike a wall, should target the ports of entry where the majority of drugs come into our country. One thing we can promise, any policy we craft will be rooted in reality and fact, not xenophobia and bigotry.

"That is why I was so disappointed that, in announcing this deal, Trump relied on the same old fictions about the border. It's clear his priority is still building fear of immigrants, and now, the threat of another shutdown looms in just 3 weeks. We cannot allow prejudice to become policy and so in the next three weeks, I'm committed to keeping the government open, keeping workers protected, and working towards reasonable immigration reforms that meet our country's economic and security needs."

Issues:Immigration