US expects conciliatory State of the Union from Trump

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US President Donald Trump has a lot of positives to talk about in his first State of the Union message on Tuesday – despite the chaos that has swirled around his administration.

US unemployment is low, wages are up, and the financial markets are doing very well.

But Trump, who sees himself as the ultimate deal-maker, has a tough sell when he stands before US Congress and tries to convince them that his immigration plan needs bipartisan support.

Security guards stand next to workers preparing a prototype of a fence that would be built along the border between the US and Mexico in Tijuana, Mexico, September 28, 2017. /VCG Photo‍

Trump’s line in the sand is getting his wall along the US border with Mexico.

In Trump’s own words, “We need the wall for security. We need the wall for safety. We need the wall for stopping drugs from pouring in.”

Marie Cookie, with a non-governmental organization called Deported Mothers in Action, is tired of seeing families ripped apart.

She compared the proposed US border wall to the Berlin Wall and said, "It is very painful that people like Trump exist, who want to divide with these walls.”

The US government was pushed into a shutdown on the anniversary of Trump taking office in large part over the issue of immigration.

Demonstrators gather outside of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) building in Portland to protest Attorney General Jeff Sessions visit to meet law enforcement officials in Portland, Oregon, September 19, 2017. /VCG Photo

A shaky truce was reached, but Democrats and Republicans remain bitterly divided on the issue of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

These are the children living in the US illegally, but who were brought in through no fault of their own.

Trump believes he is handing an olive branch to Democrats, saying he will work to find a path to US citizenship for some 1.8 million people in the US illegally – If he gets 25 billion US dollars to build the wall.

"Any solution has to include the wall, because without the wall, it doesn’t work," Trump recently said.

Democrats don’t like it. They know the DACA program is running out of funding in March.

Trump has faced bitter accusations that he is targeting minorities, which caused him to state, “I am not a racist.”

US President Donald Trump (C) listens during a meeting with bipartisan members of the Senate on immigration at the White House in Washington, DC, January 9, 2018. /VCG Photo

But while Democrats aren’t happy with Trump’s solution for immigration, many Republicans aren’t pleased, saying they believe the wall will further raise the national debt.

Trump will have to be the greatest deal-maker to make this proposal fly.

The chasm on immigration is vast. His aides say he will sound conciliatory, and reach out to both sides of the aisle in his address. But presidential optimism may not be enough to push this through.