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Robert Costa
National Political Reporter Covering the White House, Congress and Campaigns
Nick Miroff
Journalist in charge of Immigration Law Enforcement, Drug Trafficking and national security
Trump administration officials began taking extraordinary steps to contain the fallout from the partial closure of the federal government on Sunday, while the US government said it would not be able to do anything. budget impasse between the Democratic president and the Democratic president in Congress did not predict any breakthrough.
As agencies sought to solve cascade problems The White House Interim Budget Administration, Russell T. Vought, sent Congressional leaders a letter in which he described the latest offer of the Administration to end the closure. She was asking for $ 5.7 billion "for the construction of a steel fence on the southwestern border," but was proposing "an additional $ 800 million to meet urgent humanitarian needs" and unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the border.
The administration also reported that she would be willing to restore a version of an Obama-era program authorizing children from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to request the resettlement of refugees in the United States, according to an official familiar with the proposal.
But a border wall is "Vought wrote that the Democrats – who said the wall should not be tied to a government reopening agreement – remained skeptical of the president's possible overtures, suggesting that" the government is not going to be able to get into the wall. " there was no end in sight at the closing,
A Democratic official aware of the meeting said that no progress had been made this weekend, largely because the White House had been wondering how the money would be used or why the request was asking for much more than what the administration had requested just a few months ago.
The posture took place as the impact of the closure increased, with the Trump administration striving to mitigate its effects on the Americans hoping to get a tax refund next month, those who depend on federal support for their housing and vulnerable national monuments and parks.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development sent letters to 1,500 homeowners Friday as part of a last-minute appeal. effort to prevent the eviction of thousands of tenants. Many of these tenants live in units covered by a HUD program that many agency managers did not understand, expiring on January 1, and that they are now in the US. impossibility to renew.
Letters direct owners to use their reserve accounts. Jereon Brown, HUD spokesman, said no one was deported.
Officials from the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are trying to determine if they will be able to pay the following tax refunds. months, despite the fact that they said last year, they would be banned from doing so in the event of government closure.
And the National Parks Service, under pressure because of the deteriorating conditions of some of its most popular parks, has allowed levy fees to pay for garbage collection and other operations that have been interrupted as a result of the closure – a decision that some critics believe could be illegal.
Under a memorandum signed Saturday by Acting Secretary of the Department of Interior, David Bernhardt, and obtained by In the Washington Post, park managers will be allowed to hire additional staff to cleaning toilets, hauling garbage, patrolling parks and open areas
In a statement released Sunday, the deputy director of the National Parks Service, P. Daniel Smith, acknowledged that the practice of administration Keeping the parks understaffed is now threatening to degrade some of its more popular sites.
continues, it has become clear that busy parks with limited staff have urgent needs that can not be met solely by the generosity of our partners, "Smith said. "We are taking this extraordinary step to ensure the protection of the parks and allow visitors to continue to access the parks with limited basic services."
At least seven people have died in the national parks since the beginning of the closure, including a man from Yosemite National Park who illegally took his dog on a trail and then fell. At Point Reyes National Seashore, north of San Francisco, the buildup of human waste has become so severe that authorities have closed the park for public health reasons. In Joshua Tree National Park, the authorities closed the campgrounds after determining that illegal off-road driving had damaged the park's resources.
Theresa Pierno, President and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Nonprofit Association, said in an e-mail that she was inspired "the fees would absorb the Money that was supposed to be spent on managing the accumulated backlog in park maintenance.
"For national parks that do not charge a fee, they will now be able to compete for the same pot." Insufficient money to protect their resources and their visitors, "Pierno said," Emptying accounts dry is not the solution. "
Congressional Democrats and some park advocates question whether the transfer of park fees is legal, as the fees collected by the parks under the Improvement of Recreational Activities Act on federal lands are specifically designated to support visitor services. Basic Retention
"The Home Office is most likely to be in contravention of the Credits Act," said Representative Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), New Chair of the House Credits Subcommittee on the inside, the environment and the telephone conversation Sunday. "I want our parks open, but I want our government as a whole to take the right path, by following the law."
As a sign of the length of negotiations to reopen the government, the Speaker of the House of Commons Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (D -Calif.) blamed President Trump for the stalemate in which he stood and strongly criticized him for repeating that he was considering declaring a national emergency for the border wall construction, an election promise.
"The impression you have of the president [is] he would not only want to close the government, build a wall, but also abolish Congress, so that the only the voice that mattered was his, "said Pelosi in a CBS News interview on Sunday morning.
Despite the pessimism According to the tone of the Democrats, senior officials of the administration described the letter addressed to the Congressional mocrats as a sign of progress. They said that the official call to the "steel fence" rather than a huge concrete wall – as long promised by Trump – constituted a notable development.
The demand for funds "to meet urgent humanitarian needs" is even more important. and unaccompanied migrant children who arrive at the border – a problem they believe the Democrats have favored during the talks.
"In our meetings with congressional staff this weekend, we made it clear that we had a crisis on the southern border. we exposed the president's plan to secure our border, build a wall and protect the American people, "said Vice President Pence during an interview. "It's time for the Democrats to start negotiating."
The administration's proposal comes after an unprecedented increase in the number of migrant families crossing the border.
In recent months, many parents from Central America have arrived with children that border patrol stations have become dangerously overcrowded and unhealthy. Two Guatemalan children died in December after being arrested by US agents.
Pence and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen made a presentation on the issue over the weekend, officials said.
Security officials describe as a "humanitarian crisis" the setting up of temporary facilities where families would have easier access to doctors and food in a more comfortable setting than detention cells. cement slabs at the border posts where they are currently held.
Kevin McAleenan, US Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, has spared no effort to include the $ 800 million, according to an official familiar with the discussion, who requested anonymity. "They fought for this," said the official, considering the proposal as an important concession to Democrat claims for better treatment of migrants.
Hard-liners of immigration were reluctant to spend large sums to offset the increase in family by improving conditions of detention, and such temporary facilities would likely be considered "reception centers" At a time when a record number of migrants are taking their children with them. Due to court decisions limiting the length of detention of minors, a parent who takes a child has a much better chance of avoiding prolonged detention and deportation.
Instead, with more than 2,000 migrants crossing the border. Every day at the border, US immigration services resort to massive releases because they can not transport or process families quickly enough and so many children get sick in the custody of the government.
The partial closure of funding a wall – lets US border agents work long hours
Administration officials also seek to see what is legally allowed as they determine how to attack the 38 million Americans who could lose access to food aid next month because the Agriculture Department is also caught in the shutdown . As early as this week, the agency could start informing states that it might not be able to provide the expected financial assistance for food programs.
State officials are trying to make up for the deficit in social protection and food stamps. Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Governors Association, said in an interview that at one point, state flexibility would be exhausted.
"Every day this becomes increasingly problematic for states," said Pattison. . "They need to raise money for federal programs. They can not have deficits like the federal government. They have tight budgets and it's not like they have a lot of money.
Felicia Sonmez, Tracy Jan and Lisa Rein contributed to this report.
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