President Trump has vowed to stop negotiating on a solution to the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program Sunday morning, citing what he considers a lack of desire on the part of congressional Democrats to get a deal done.
He also decried what he called “caravans” of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border of Mexico from other Latin American countries with little or no resistance from officials there. The President says the ultimate destination of those individuals is the United States.
“Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. “Caravans” coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!” the President wrote in one tweet.
“Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!” he wrote in another.
The President did not explain what he meant by caravans, but a story has been making headlines this weekend about a group of over 1,000 migrants, mostly from Honduras, who have crossed into Mexico with the goal of coming to the United States during this Easter weekend and demanding asylum.
“We’re here in Tapachula doing workshops and activities to get to know each other and prepare to be a strong, united team for the 2018 Refugee Caravan ‘Migrantes en la Lucha!’” the group posted on Facebook.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, Mexican authorities have allowed the group to march north “with relative ease.” The group has also allegedly received supplies from locals along the way.
The DACA program defers from deportation undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country illegally but at a very young age and through no fault of their own. Individuals seeking protection under the program must satisfy certain education, work and legal requirements. They also must reapply to the program every two years.
The President had offered legal status to DACA recipients, roughly 700,000 individuals, and even expanded the offer’s reach to cover roughly 1.8 million undocumented individuals. The last iteration of the President’s plan also provided a pathway to full citizenship for the undocumented immigrants, a step further than even activists had asked for.
Democrats rejected the offer repeatedly because in exchange for a solution to the DACA problem the President and Republicans were asking for $25 billion in funding for a wall along the southern border.
It’s unclear what impact today’s tweets will have on any final solution for the program. Several lawsuits are working their way through courts which challenge the President’s ability to unilaterally end the program. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear cases on the program, meaning the program likely stays in place for the foreseeable future.
Photo by Molly Adams via Flickr