In an interview with Meet the Press host Chuck Todd during the 2016 Republican Presidential Primaries, Trump was asked about his plan to rescind Obama’s DACA and DREAM Act executive orders and how he planned to deal with illegal immigrants already in the country under the orders.
In his usual fallacious manner, Trump said, “We have to make a whole new set of standards. … We have to keep the families together, but they have to go.” When pressed for details on how he would accomplish this task and how it would be paid for, Trump assured Todd “that it will work out so well” that he will insist on another interview near the end of Trump’s first term and would declare “What a great job you’ve done, President Trump.”
I’ve documented in dozens of articles since that time how Trump had no intention of seriously addressing the DREAMers issue and how he was looking for ways to make DACA permanent.
So, it came as no surprise to hear Trump held a meeting last week with Gang of Eight leader Lindsay Graham along with a veritable who’s who of faux conservatives and Trumpists, including Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Martha McSally and Josh Hawley.
FWIW . . . Cotton and McSally are running for re-election in November.
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.
In January 2019, in addition to joining the newly formed Gang of 20, Kushner and Graham offered Democrats a deal to save DACA in exchange for border wall funding . . . WITHOUT CONDITIONS!
In May 2019, Trump released Kushner’s so-called immigration reform plan. The Democrat-friendly plan called for a new merit-based system that would give preference to immigrants with job skills rather than relatives of immigrants already in the country. But it did nothing about DREAMers. When asked about this glaring omission, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway confirmed Trump’s desire to use any new immigration legislation as a way “to do a deal on DACA and the DREAMers.”
In November 2019, the Supreme Court heard a challenge by the Trump administration to a lower court ruling, blocking him from “repealing” DACA. At the time, the faux-conservative media reported that the court would likely rule in Trump’s favor.
Good news, right? Not exactly.
Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from “angels.” Some are very tough, hardened criminals. President Obama said he had no legal right to sign order, but would anyway. If Supreme Court remedies with overturn, a deal will be made with Dems for them to stay!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2019
In the meeting he held with GOP “leaders” last week, Trump told those in attendance that he wants to get something done to address “the underlying problem” (code for DREAMers) but would wait until after the Supreme Court issues its ruling.
When asked for clarification for what that means, Graham said that even if the court rules in Trump’s favor “We’re not going to allow these folks to have their lives turned upside down, but we will try to put together a package that protects the DACA population.
Days after his inauguration, Trump was asked in an interview with David Muir on ABC about his campaign promise to rescind DACA and the DREAMers Act. He responded, “They are here illegally. They shouldn’t be very worried. I do have a big heart. We’re going to take care of everybody.” He has expressed similar sentiments as president:
Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2017
…They have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own – brought in by parents at young age. Plus BIG border security
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2017
Trump doesn’t want to see DACA destroyed; he wants it re-branded with his name on it instead of Obama’s. That way, he gets all the credit.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds members of every political stripe accountable and promotes conservative principles over political parties.
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