The program that protects the roughly 700,000 young immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children was declared “dead” by President Donald Trump on Monday, April 2.
His comment was among a series of tweets that raised new questions on what would become of the said undocumented young immigrants known as “Dreamers.”
“DACA is dead because the Democrats did not care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon,” tweeted Trump on Monday, blaming Democrats for the situation.
“No longer works. Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Border, hence drugs and crime!” the president added.
At the annual White House Easter Egg Roll later that Monday, the president continued to point his finger saying “they had this great opportunity, and Democrats have really let them down.”
“It’s a shame,” he added. “Now people are taking advantage of DACA. It should have never happened.”
Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) responded on Twitter and said that it was Trump who was at fault.
The Trump administration ended the Obama-era Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program last September, giving Congress a now passed March 5 deadline to find a solution for the Dreamers. Court rulings have allowed the program to temporarily remain, but no new applications have been or can be accepted.
Durbin said, “The President is blaming everyone under the sun, but he only has to look in the mirror to find the person who turned down six different bipartisan DACA deals from Congress – a few that included funding for his useless wall.”
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) echoed Durbin and wrote on Twitter, “He walked away – not Democrats.”
On Twitter last month on the March 5 deadline, Trump called Democrats out saying, “the Democrats are nowhere to be found on DACA. Gave them 6 months, they just don’t care.”
The tweet continued, “Where are they? We are ready to make a deal!”
The Trump administration said last month that it would extend DACA for two-and-a-half-years in exchange for $25 billion border wall funding which Democrats did not agree to.
Democrats gave a counteroffer of funding for the wall in exchange for giving the approximately 1.8 million Dreamers a path to citizenship, which Trump’s administration refused.
Policy plans to address backlogs, quotas
White House officials added to the anti-immigration theme and said Monday that the Trump administration has begun a new legislative push on immigration.
“DHS is working on another legislative package, obviously we’ve been talking about this for many months now, including when we sent the immigration priorities over to Congress back in October that would basically close these loopholes so we can have a lawful immigration system and save a lot of lives on both sides of the border,” said one official.
The proposals include changing laws to make applying or being granted asylum more difficult, allowing longer detainment of families waiting for their immigration decisions through a change in “catch and release” policies, and removing protections for unaccompanied minors arriving illegally in the U.S. so they can be deported or be turned back at the border more quickly.
“If you oppose those fixes, as Democrats do, you’re basically saying you want endless numbers of new waves of illegal immigrants,” said the official.
Hours after the White House statement, Trump tweeted Monday, “As ridiculous as it sounds, the laws of our country do not easily allow us to send those crossing our Southern Border back where they come from.
The tweet continued, “A whole big wasted procedure must take place. Mexico & Canada have tough immigration laws, whereas ours are an Obama joke. ACT CONGRESS”
According to the New York Times, a senior administration official said the asylum changes were meant in part to address a backlog of hundreds of thousands of immigration court cases, which often result in undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. while waiting for their case to process.
More than 617,500 cases were backlogged in 2017 which is almost double the amount from 2009. Average wait times often range from one to five years depending on the state, with immigrants many times having to represent themselves.
The Justice Department told immigration judges Monday that it would impose new quotas on how quickly cases are closed starting October 1. Judges will have to complete 700 cases per year — the average being only 678 in the last five years.
While immigration judges are part of the Executive branch, they are supposed to have full independence.
Those critical of the proposed quota system say that creating numerical targets would create an even messier system.
Dana Leigh Marks, an immigration judge and union spokesman of the National Immigration Judges Association described the metric standards as “completely, utterly contrary to judicial independence.”
“We believe assessing quality is fine, not quantity,” said Marks.
Many times, undocumented immigrants come to the U.S. in seek of asylum or refugee status, and risk facing violence or murder upon returning to their home countries.
She once said in a PBS Newshour coverage of immigration courts that they were in essence, “processing death penalty cases in a traffic court setting.”
Judge A. Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges said that it would make an “appealable” issue and legal challenges a possibility, reported The Washington Post.
She said,” “It could call into question the integrity and impartiality of the court if a judge’s decision is influenced by factors outside the facts of the case, or if motions are denied out of a judge’s concern about keeping his or her job.”
“We don’t know of any other court whose judges are subject to individual quotas and deadlines as part of performance reviews and evaluations,” she added.
Easter Sunday Immigration Tweets
The Monday remarks came after Trump took to Twitter early Easter Sunday expressing his stance on immigration and DACA.
“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!,” read one tweet that raised awareness on his latest stance on DACA..
“Caravans” refer to a group of around 1,500 people — primarily from Honduras — reportedly heading towards the border together as a way to ensure better protection from the often dangerous route.
The caravan is organized by the U.S.-based immigration advocacy group called Pueblo Sin Fronteras, or People Without Borders in English. How many actually plan to reach the U.S. or seek asylum is unclear.
Trump suggested on Twitter that the caravan travelers would attempt to benefit from DACA. He said, “These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!”
But aside from the fact that DACA is not taking applications, the program required applicants prove they had been living in the U.S. since 2007.
Expressing frustration with what he called “ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws”, Trump put blame on a “catch and release” policy which refers to the approach of allowing migrants remain free until an immigration judge hears their asylum requests.
In another Tweet that criticized Mexico for not blocking people coming in through their southern border, Trump also mentioned the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which he called a “cash cow” for Mexico.
“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!”
NAFTA is the world’s largest free trade agreement and is a treaty between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Trump has before called NAFTA the “worst trade deal in history”, and has blamed it for the Rust Belt’s loss of jobs in manufacturing.
Luis Videgaray Caso, foreign secretary of Mexico, responded to Trump’s tweets and said: “Every day Mexico and the U.S. work together on migration throughout the region. Facts clearly reflect this. An inaccurate news reports should not serve to question this strong cooperation. Upholding human dignity and rights is not at odds with the rule of law. Happy Easter.”
