After President Trump signed the omnibus spending bill that does not fund his border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, he spoke directly to illegal aliens, saying “the Democrats” are “using you for their own purposes.”

During the White House news conference, Trump announced that he had signed the spending bill — which does not include funding for a new border wall, increases the Catch and Release program, and does not fund the 1,000 new deportation agents Trump requested — and then specifically mentioned the nearly 800,000 illegal aliens who have been shielded from deportation by the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Trump said:

I can tell you this and I say this to DACA recipients that the Republicans are with you. They want to get your situation taken care of. The Democrats fought us. They fought every single inch of the way. They did not want DACA in this bill. [Emphasis added] And as you know, DACA is also tied to the wall, for the major funding, the $25 billion for wall and other things. So I think that will be coming up very soon. But I do want the Hispanic community to know and DACA recipients to know that Republicans are much more on your side than the Democrats who are using you for their own purposes. [Emphasis added]

The Trump administration had been looking to give amnesty to DACA illegal aliens in exchange for full border wall funding and a reduction in legal immigration levels, but Democrats blocked the plan.