By Donald Jeffries
Barack Obama’s 2012 executive order establishing a policy of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) appears here to stay. DACA allowed those brought into America illegally as children to receive renewable two-year deferrals against deportation. In June, the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration’s belated efforts to end DACA.
Less than a month after losing this Supreme Court decision, Trump abruptly flip-flopped on the issue, telling Telemundo, “I’m going to be over the next few weeks signing an immigration bill that a lot of people don’t know about. . . . One of the aspects of the bill is going to be DACA. We’re going to have a road for citizenship.” This totally contradicted Trump’s 2018 midterm election rhetoric, when he declared, “The Democrats want to continue to give automatic birthright citizenship to every child born to an illegal alien . . . hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant children are made automatic citizens every year because of this crazy policy and they are all made instantly eligible for every privilege and benefit of American citizenship.”
Obama excited the social justice warriors with his proclamations about the “dreamers,” and it appears that President Trump has effectively thrown in the towel on the issue. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) expressed his opposition by tweeting, “There is ZERO constitutional authority for a president to create a ‘road to citizenship’ by executive fiat. It was unconstitutional when Obama issued executive amnesty, and it would be a huge mistake if Trump tries to illegally expand amnesty.”
Powerful business interests on the right and social justice warriors on the left have long coalesced behind an agenda advocating both increased legal immigration and amnesty for those who entered this country illegally. The impact of DACA is such that the American Medical Association recently reported that some 30,000 DACA recipients are presently working as health care professionals in the United States.
Candidate Trump was boldly outspoken about DACA and our disastrous immigration policy in general. When he launched his presidential run on June 16, 2015, Trump vowed, “I will immediately terminate President Obama’s illegal executive order on immigration, immediately.” At a 2016 campaign rally,
Trump reiterated, “We will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties, in which he defied federal law and the Constitution to give amnesty to approximately 5 million illegal immigrants.” But a few months after his election, the new president had softened his tone considerably, saying, “We’re going to work something out,” and calling it a “very tough situation.”
In January 2017, Trump was all over the place, telling ABC News, “They are here illegally. They shouldn’t be very worried. I do have a big heart. We’re going to take care of everybody. We’re going to have a very strong border. We’re gonna have a very solid border. Where you have great people that are here that have done a good job, they should be far less worried. We’ll be coming out with [a] policy on that over the next period of four weeks.” He explained that “they shouldn’t be very worried,” referring to the “Dreamers.”
A month later, in February 2017, Trump said at a press conference, “We’re going to show great heart. DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me. I will tell you. To me, it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have. But you have some absolutely incredible kids. . . . We are going to deal with DACA with heart. I have to deal with a lot of politicians, don’t forget. And I have to convince them that what I’m saying is right . . . It’s a very difficult thing for me because you know, I love these kids. . . . I love kids. I have kids and grandkids, and I find it very, very hard doing what the law says exactly to do.” Not long after that, Trump chided legislators, “Congress, get ready to do your job—DACA!” He also retweeted a hardline critique of DACA, which read, “Make no mistake, we are going to put the interest of American Citizens First! The forgotten men and women will no longer be forgotten.” In September 2017, Trump announced a gradual phasing-out of DACA, which simply never transpired.
William Gheen, head of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), reacted to Trump’s latest statement, saying, “There is substantial, strong opposition to this that damages Trump’s credibility even further because he campaigned on ending DACA and told us they had to go home in 2016. I believe if Trump signs anything like this for Obama’s DACA illegal aliens, it will kill his campaign.”
“Angel Mom” Mary Ann Mendoza chimed in with, “Angel families know we are the true victims of illegal alien crime. I don’t care who it is in Washington, D.C. who is talking about DACA reform—you need to talk to the people who have been directly impacted by this.”
Donald Jeffries is a highly respected author and researcher whose work on the JFK, RFK and MLK assassinations and other high crimes of the Deep State has been read by millions of people across the world. Jeffries is also the author of three books currently being sold by the AFP Online Store.
