--- title: Donald Trump: No Immigration Deal Without Border Wall description: President Trump reversed course again Wednesday on protecting undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. canonical: https://time.com/5097748/donald-trump-immigration-daca/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-10T21:11:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:49:58.795Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Just Reversed Course on Protecting Dreamers, Again og:description: "Any legislation has to include the wall." og:url: https://time.com/5097748/donald-trump-immigration-daca/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3998e99db220325d/6988f7dc4ee2621d20310737/trump-norway-presser-daca.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Holds News Conference With Prime Minister Solberg Of Norway - DC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Just Reversed Course on Protecting Dreamers, Again twitter:description: "Any legislation has to include the wall." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3998e99db220325d/6988f7dc4ee2621d20310737/trump-norway-presser-daca.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Just Backtracked, Again, on Protecting Dreamers  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jan 10, 2018 9:11 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump during a news conference with Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway at the White House on Jan. 10, 2018 U.S. President Donald Trump during a news conference with Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway at the White House on Jan. 10, 2018Olivier Douliery—Abaca Press/Sipa/AP  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jan 10, 2018 9:11 PM UTC President Trump reversed course again Wednesday on protecting undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, further complicating an already tense negotiations. At a joint press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Holberg, Trump said that he would not sign any legislative fix on this issue that did not include funding for a border wall. “Its got to include the wall,” he said. “We need the wall for safety. We need the wall to stop the drugs from pouring in.” “Any legislation has to include the wall,” he continued. “because without the wall it all doesn’t work.” The comments, which reiterate sentiments he uttered on Tuesday night, mark a swift turnaround for the President, who just one day earlier had [hosted a bipartisan group of of lawmakers](http://time.com/5096090/daca-dreamers-white-house-congress-meeting/?utm%5Fsource=time.com&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=the-brief&utm%5Fcontent=2018011012pm&xid=newsletter-brief) at the White House to discuss possible compromises on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program that defers deportation for undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children. At that meeting, Trump appeared to agree to passing a DACA solution before turning to immigration reform. When Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked Trump about executing this strategy, [Trump responded,](http://time.com/5096784/white-house-corrects-immigration-meeting-transcript/) ” I would like to do that. Go ahead. I think a lot of people would like to see that, but I think we have to do DACA first.” His response appeared to alarm some members of his own party, including Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “Mr. President, you need to be clear though… We have to have security, as the Secretary would tell you,” McCarthy said. Later that night, Trump took to Twitter to clarify his support for a border wall. “Our country needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval,” he wrote. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/950884128379035650) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5097748/donald-trump-immigration-daca/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5097748/donald-trump-immigration-daca/"},"headline":"President Trump Just Backtracked, Again, on Protecting Dreamers","datePublished":"2018-01-10T21:11:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:49:58.795Z","description":"\"Any legislation has to include the wall\"","url":"https://time.com/5097748/donald-trump-immigration-daca/","keywords":["White House","Immigration","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3998e99db220325d/6988f7dc4ee2621d20310737/trump-norway-presser-daca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3998e99db220325d/6988f7dc4ee2621d20310737/trump-norway-presser-daca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Holds News Conference With Prime Minister Solberg Of Norway - DC","caption":"President Trump Holds News Conference With Prime Minister Solberg Of Norway - DC","creditText":"Olivier Douliery—Abaca Press/Sipa/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5097748/donald-trump-immigration-daca/","name":"President Trump Just Backtracked, Again, on Protecting Dreamers"}}]}] ```