Pelosi specifically called out the lack of a permanent solution for DACA recipients and those with temporary protected status, but several of the "smart, effective border security solutions" Pelosi said that Democrats would support — new drug-detection technology at ports of entry, increased border staffing and more immigration judges — were included in Trump's proposal.
"What is original in the President’s proposal is not good. What is good in the proposal is not original," Pelosi tweeted after Trump officially unveiled his plan.
East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, also rebuffed Trump's offer before it was officially announced. Swalwell told KQED just before the president's speech that any proposal including a wall is off the table.
“I’m not going to trade opening the government or the fate of Dreamers for a wall,” he said.
Swalwell, a staunch critic of the president and rumored candidate for president in 2020, added that he could support a proposal that includes funding for barriers at certain points along the border, but not a wall.
“If he wants to have targeted barriers where he can articulate vulnerabilities, I’m open to working with him on that,” he said, noting that he does not think the president will budge on the issue.
Fellow Bay Area Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, said in an interview with CNN shortly after Trump's announcement that Democrats will not negotiate with the president on funding for a wall while the government is shut down.
“We can have a discussion about solving our policy differences, but not with the government hostage,” said Lofgren, who leads the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship.
Lofgren, a former immigration attorney and longtime advocate for immigration reform, told CNN that Democrats do support funding for border security and conceded that some of their ideas may overlap with the president’s in some areas, but she said the government should reopen before negotiations begin.
“We’re not going to get to where we need to be for our country with the president coming up with deals that are only his deals that he’s never discussed with anyone,” she said.
Lofgren added that Democrats plan to release their border security proposals in detail next week, including a proposal to “dramatically” increase the number of immigration judges, one to increase funding for the Coast Guard, and another to strengthen funding for new detection technologies at official ports of entry.
“Almost all the drugs that are coming over the land borders come through the ports of entry; they come on trucks,” she said. “And we don’t have the technology to detect those drugs.”
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, also called funding the border wall a "non-starter" and said border security negotiations should wait until after the government is reopened.
"We shouldn't shut down the government for policy disagreements," DeSaulnier said at a town hall in his district on Saturday.
"I do agree with [Trump] on the immigration reform," he added. "We do need to fix the system; it's broken. But for him to claim there's a humanitarian crisis? I've seen it, and he's contributed to it significantly."
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, called the proposal a "real slap in the face," and echoed her colleagues complaints over the lack of long-term protections for DACA and TPS recipients. But she said even if they were included, it would not be enough for her to agree to the rest of Trump's proposal.
"Not for a $5 billion wall," she told KQED. "Dreamers deserve a pathway to citizenship regardless of any proposed wall or any proposal the president makes. That’s the right thing to do.”
She also lamented the continued impact of the partial government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history.
“These government workers don’t have a lot of money, and this president is just holding them hostage," she said.
