Trump, DACA, and DREAMers were in the news again recently. And just like every other time they are mentioned in the same sentence, it wasn’t what you’d consider “good” news.
Just shy of three weeks ago, Trump, DACA, and DREAMers were last in the news at the same time. That’s when the New York Liberal who ran for president on a promise to rescind DACA and the DREAM Act said in a Telemundo interview that he would be signing “a very major immigration bill” within 30 days that would not only save DACA but would provide a “road to citizenship” for DREAMers already enrolled in the program.
In a clear display of his ignorance of the Constitution, Trump referred to his executive order as a “bill.”
BREAKING: President Trump tells Telemundo’s @jdbalart he will sign an executive order on immigration that will include DACA in the coming weeks. #mtpdaily
Trump: “One of the aspects of the bill is going to be DACA. We are going to have a road to citizenship.” pic.twitter.com/M926cty8A1
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) July 10, 2020
“I’m going to do a big executive order. I have the power to do it as president. And I’m going to make DACA a part of it.
“I’m going to be doing an immigration bill. One of the aspects of the bill that you will be very happy with, and that a lot of people will be, including me and a lot of Republicans, by the way, will be DACA. It gives them a road to citizenship.”
Of course, the one-month time frame given by Trump was nothing more than an arbitrary and capricious promise made for no other reason than to win a few votes from the Hispanic community in another futile attempt to save his floundering campaign.
So, it should come as no surprise to learn that Trump won’t be signing his DACA “bill” anytime soon. Instead, he will kick the proverbial can down-the-road until after the 2020 election when, if he wins re-election, he will reveal his true intentions.
TheHill.com is reporting that Trump has decided to conduct a “review” of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. According to sources familiar with the details of the decision, the review is expected to take approximately 100 days to complete. With the 2020 election only 98 days away, Trump has effectively kicked the DACA can down the road past November 3.
By the way, as a little icing on his re-election cake, Trump will allow DREAMers currently protected by DACA to renew their status for one year.
To paraphrase Billy Joel, Trump didn’t start the “Let’s save DACA and give DREAMers a pathway to citizenship” fire — it’s been always burning since the Gang of Eight was turning. And even though he didn’t light, he’s not trying to fight it. This is the reason Trump held a meeting back in March with Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio — two of the Gang’s founders — along with a veritable who’s who of faux conservatives like Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Martha McSally, and Josh Hawley to come up with the best way to betray the American people while experiencing the least amount of political damage.
Also in attendance at the meeting was America’s newest Republican, Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner. Ivanka’s husband has been working with Graham to create a plan granting amnesty and a pathway to citizenship for millions of DREAMers by making DACA permanent ever since they joined Sen. John Cornyn’s Gang of 20 — a group formed to do the work Graham’s Gang of Eight failed to do.
Trump, Kushner, Graham, et al have increased these efforts ever since the Democrats swept away the GOP in the Blue Tsunami of the 2018 midterms. For example, in January 2019 Kushner and Graham offered Democrats a deal to save DACA in exchange for border wall funding . . . WITHOUT CONDITIONS!
Even a casual observer of the 2016 election knows that Trump’s unlikely victory began with a commitment to fix America’s out-of-control illegal immigration problem. Armed with a promise to build a wall at the border that Mexico would pay for along with a 100-day plan that included overturning Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders — DACA and the DREAM Act — Trump rode the populism wave to the presidency.
Yet, in an interview with the president-elect in December 2016 after being named Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year,” Trump was asked by the magazine about the millions of DREAMers still in the country due to Obama’s DACA executive order in light of his promise to deport millions of illegals. His answer confirmed what we already knew about Trump and his intentions:
“I want Dreamers for our children also. We’re going to work something out. On a humanitarian basis it’s a very tough situation. We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud. But that’s a very tough situation.”
I’ve mentioned this many times before, but it bears repeating. Trump never intended to rescind DACA and has always favored creating a path to citizenship for the hundreds-of-thousands millions of illegals already in the country. He just wants it re-branded with his name on it instead of Obama’s. That’s what lying, egomaniacal narcissists do.
The only people who believe otherwise are twitterpated Trumpists, the faux conservative media, and the Fellowship of the Pharisees who choose to ignore his betrayals for a seat at his table or because #DemocratsAreWorse.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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