On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) responded to a question on negotiating with Republicans on a deal for DREAMers by stating, “I don’t negotiate with hostage-takers.”

Gutierrez said, “[I]f we’re going to take DREAMers, and we’re going to extol their values and their contributions and we’re going to tell the world how importantly special they are, which I believe in the core of my heart, then we also have to defend them with the same kind of tenacity and with the same kind of rigor. And that’s all I’m saying to Democrats, don’t take DREAMers, as we have to the 2012 and 2016…convention, and said, ‘Here they are. They’re our best and our finest.’ And let them down by joining Republicans and not allowing them to live in a free space and allowing them to get out of this hostage situation that they find themselves in and become citizens of the United States. Because those kids, Katy, are as American as my children, in everything but a piece of paper. And just like my — this is Christmas, Katy. What does anybody think you should do in a meeting days before Christmas? It’s a holiday season of peace and harmony and family, and I want peace and harmony and family values for those immigrant families, too.”

Host Katy Tur then asked, “What would you be willing to give the Republicans or give this president for protection for DREAMers? Os a wall, part of the wall, funding for the wall on the table potentially?”

Gutierrez answered, “I don’t negotiate with hostage-takers. The DREAMers have already fulfilled all their requirements, all of them once, the vast majority of them twice. … I say, look, the president of the United States said — even Donald Trump said, they’re great. And I’m going to do something special and important, something great for them, which he always says just about everything. So why can’t he just keep his word at least on one thing? And I’m saying to Democrats, there’s no reason to negotiate about this. It’s about a budget deal, right? And within the constructs of a budget deal.”

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