How Trump Let His Goal of Building a Border Wall Slip Away

Bloomberg:

President Donald Trump has rebuffed numerous opportunities to secure billions for a border wall, and with Democrats set to take control of the House that goal could be out of reach for good.

Trump’s best chance for border wall funding at the level he wants came in February 2018, when Republican Senator Mike Rounds teamed up with independent Senator Angus King on compromise immigration legislation.

It included $25 billion over a decade to build a wall along the southern border and a path to citizenship for so-called Dreamers who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. It also barred green card holders from sponsoring adult children for permanent residency and reoriented enforcement priorities to focus on criminals in the country illegally.

Trump torched the bill as a "giant amnesty" for narrowing the scope of deportations, and complained that it didn’t end diversity visas or stop "chain migration" -- his derisive term for laws that allow American citizens to sponsor siblings and parents for green cards.