President Donald Trump’s proposed framework for an immigration deal received a thrashing from two guests Saturday on Fox News.

Jessica Ramirez, the Managing Attorney for Catholic Charities of Newark-Immigration Assistance, said she was hopeful that Trump and Congress would work out a deal to protect Dreamers.

“These are people at this point who have lived most of their lives in this country, that speak more English than their native tongue and for all intents and purposes, they consider themselves Americans, they live the American lifestyle, there are law abiding,” she said.

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Trump has said he will support a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. But he also is seeking a massive increase in border security along with a large decrease in legal immigration.

Elizabeth Wydra, the president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, accused Trump of holding the Dreamers “hostage” in his push to cut down legal immigration.

“Yes, he is a businessman and that is what they do,” Ramirez agreed. “They exploit and they use in order to get what they want, and I think it will be problematic but I think people will have to come in the middle to get what they want to get.

“And I think it is a kick in the gut for a Latina such as myself to talk about Mexico and the border when there’s another border in Canada,” Ramirez added.

“I think this wall — I thought Mexico was supposed to pay for it, first of all — but also the idea that we’re going to have a wall on our Southern border is really racist,” Wydra said. “Why are we trying to keep black and brown people out the country while the president says we should welcome more people from Norway?”

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The Fox News host noted that Trump has said he hopes Congress will approve immigration legislation by February 5. “Will this happen Elizabeth?”

“I think is really hard to say,” Wydra replied. “There are a lot of Democrats who are saying we might be willing to give you some money for the wall as ransom for taking the Dreamers hostage. But I think the limitation on legal immigration might be a step too far for them. In fact, the Dreamers themselves have come out saying basically it is a white supremacist ransom note.”

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