WASHINGTON: Donald Trump blasted "Cryin' Chuck Schumer" overnight after the president's chief Democratic nemesis in Congress withdrew an offer to fund a controversial border wall, leaving negotiations on immigration in limbo.
Trump met with Schumer last week in the White House as the feuding sides sought an agreement on a broad deal that would have funded the federal government, boosted border security and addressed the fate of thousands of young immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children.
The deal collapsed, the government suffered a three-day shutdown, and Senate Minority Leader Schumer, who had put substantial border wall funding on the table during his meeting with the president, revoked his offer.
"Cryin' Chuck Schumer fully understands, especially after his humiliating defeat, that if there is no Wall, there is no DACA," Trump tweeted shortly before midnight Tuesday, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects nearly 800,000 immigrants from deportation, but expires on March 5.
"We must have safety and security, together with a strong Military, for our great people!"
As part of a broader deal that included government spending, Schumer reportedly offered as much as USD 25 billion for the wall, which was among the most prominent planks of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
But when Trump rejected the deal, Schumer pulled the offer.
"We're going to have to start on a new basis, and the wall offer's off the table," Schumer told reporters Tuesday.
The immigration was now in flux with barely two weeks before a February 8 deadline agreed by both parties to either strike a deal, or take the issue to the Senate floor for debate before so-called "Dreamers" face mass deportation in March.
One plan crafted by a bipartisan group of six senators, including Republican Jeff Flake, included Trump's USD 1.6 billion request as part of a broader, USD 2.7 billion border security package that also ends the green-card visa lottery and limits family reunification policy.
"Some of the tradeoffs and some of the compromises that are in (that plan) are going to be in any bill," Flake told AFP.
But getting a Senate immigration deal through the more conservative House of Representatives will be "very tough," added Flake.
"That's why I think the president's going to have to be behind it."
Bipartisan immigration negotiations have resumed, with several Capitol Hill meetings on Tuesday that included White House officials.