Trump tells Republicans to tone down expectations on illegal immigration

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Donald Trump Republicans illegal immigration

Trump tells Republicans to tone down expectations on illegal immigration

Trump border czar, Tom Homan, held private meetings with Republicans this past weekend and told them to tone down their expectations concerning Trump’s campaign promise to fix the illegal immigration problem.

Of course, now that the party is little more than a pro-Trump propaganda arm, Republicans were totally cool with the news (via CNN.com):

President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has privately told Republican lawmakers to temper their expectations for the incoming administration’s initial deportation operation, citing limited resources, according to multiple sources involved in the conversations.

While Trump’s allies have floated measures to detain and deport people residing in the US illegally, the plans largely depend on the resources and funds available to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which historically has had budget shortfalls.

“We are not having a discussion about 20 million (deportations). We are having a discussion about an order, and priority, and expectation,” GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, who was in one of the meetings with Homan, told CNN.

The discussions are part of a broader level-setting that is occurring among House Republicans, who are now coming to terms with the challenges of turning one of their key campaign promises into a reality. Republicans are also grappling with the harsh realization that most of their border overhaul measures are unlikely to be included in Trump’s massive agenda bill, given the strict rules around the reconciliation process that require proposals to either increase revenue or reduce spending, not change policy.

“Many members are only now beginning to understand that,” one GOP lawmaker told CNN. (Emphasis mine)

For readers of The Strident Conservative, this announcement comes as no surprise.

I wrote last month that Trump announced in an NBC interview he would be backing off his illegal immigration plan concerning DACA, DREAMers, amnesty, and a pathway to citizenship — just as he did during his first term in office.

In the interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker, Trump was asked to provide specifics about how he would deport millions of undocumented people residing in the United States. After first stating that he would focus on deporting criminals “first,” he later added that he would work with Democrats to protect DREAMers from deportation (via Latin Times):

On Sunday, NBC’s Kristen Welker questioned Trump about his plans to deport millions of undocumented people residing in the United States. Trump emphasized his focus on deporting criminals “first,” adding, “then we’re starting with the others.”

Welker then asked Trump, “What about the Dreamers?” At first, Trump responded vaguely, “The Dreamers are going to come later, and we have to do something about the Dreamers.” As Welker pushed for a more specific answer, Trump said, “I will work with the Democrats on a plan…but the Democrats have made it very difficult.”

“Do you want them to stay?” Welker asked. “I do,” Trump responded. “I want to work something out.” The President-elect went on to say that “Republicans are very open to the Dreamers.” He then criticized President Joe Biden for not having worked “something out” over the past four years. (Emphasis mine)

If this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve heard it before.

In an interview with Meet the Press’ 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 would deal with illegal immigrants already in the country under those orders. In his usual non-specific way, 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.”

After winning the 2016 election, Time Magazine named Trump their “Person of the Year.” In his interview with Time, Trump was asked about the millions of DREAMers in the country at the time under Obama’s DACA executive order and his promise to deport them. His answer confirmed his equivocation on the matter.

“We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud. They got brought here at a very young age, they’ve worked here, they’ve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they’re in never-never land because they don’t know what’s going to happen.” (Emphasis mine)

A few weeks after moving into the White House, Trump made it clear that he had no intention of overturning DACA when he decided to keep Obama’s order in place, thus allowing one million DREAMers — the estimated number at the time — to stay in the country.

Months later, Trump took another step in support of illegal immigration when he issued his fake executive order “rescinding” Obama’s DACA order. But instead of rescinding it, he gave Republicans in Congress six months to make it permanent . . . or else. In other words, he lied.

In January 2018, Trump introduced what he called “a bill of love” to fix DACA. In a meeting with Democrats at the time, Trump admitted that his position on DACA would be whatever Congress tells him it should be, and he agreed to sign any bill brought to his desk because he had “confidence” Congress would come up with something “really good.” He also promised to “take the heat” from his base for lying about bringing an end to DACA.

In January 2019, Trump appointed son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner to the Gang of Twenty — a group created to revive Lindsey Graham’s Gang of Eight — for the purpose of coming up with a plan to grant amnesty and an eventual pathway to citizenship for millions of so-called DREAMers and to make DACA permanent in exchange for border wall funding. One of the proposals presented by Kushner and Graham was an offer to Democrats to save DACA in exchange for border wall funding . . . WITHOUT CONDITIONS!

In the days leading up to the 2020 election, and with his chances of victory obviously fading away, Trump announced that he would be signing “a very major immigration bill” that would provide a “road to citizenship” to the innumerable illegal aliens enrolled in Obama’s DACA program. Though he referred to it as a “bill,” he confirmed that he would use an executive order to accomplish the task:

Republicans repeatedly promised to work with Donald Trump to fix the illegal immigration problem, but just like abortion, government spending, and pretty much every other conservative priority, their promise was a lie used to raise money. In the end, they had no intention of doing anything about it because they supported it and wanted to save it.

Donald Trump and Republicans never intended to address the illegal immigration problem in 2016, and they don’t intend to do anything about it now, which means the hundreds-of-thousands millions of illegal immigrants already in the country aren’t going anywhere.

 

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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