Democratic lawmakers are rallying around a last-ditch bid to save former President Barack Obama’s program protecting illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors.
Terminating DACA would be ‘cruel’ and ‘inhumane’ of President Donald Trump, Democratic lawmakers proclaimed on Twitter as they began the last day of summer recess, using hashtags like #DefendDACA and #SaveDACA in their social media posts.
‘If he spoke to even one DREAMer he’d know it,’ Florida Rep. Ted Deutch said in a Monday morning message. ‘If he had any feeling. If he could be empathetic. If only.’
Democratic lawmakers are rallying around a last-ditch bid to save former President Barack Obama’s program protecting illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors
Numerous reports have claimed that Trump will announce plans tomorrow to eliminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that benefits roughly 800,000 people who live and work in America with the permission of the U.S. government.
A Politico article Sunday night that cited two sources familiar with Trump’s thinking and claimed the president would rescind the permission in six months unless Congress directs him to keep it in place sparked new worries.
Trump is known to change his mind at the last minute, the article reminded, leaving the door open for a change in his position. Democrats subsequently hopped on social media to build last-minute support for keeping it.
‘If true, this would be one of the most cruel and immoral things Trump has done. Let’s stand up for #Dreamers and #DefendDACA,’ said former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman and sitting Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
The White House said Friday that Trump would make a DACA announcement on Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday had concluded.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered no additional insight then into the president’s plans.
Earlier in the afternoon, Trump had praised the illegal immigrants’ whose fate rests in his hands, telling reporters, ‘We think the DREAMers are terrific.’
‘Great feeling for DACA,’ he said at another point on Friday. ‘We love the Dreamers. We love everybody.’
The comments suggested that Trump does not want to end the program, having said multiple times in the past that the administration’s focus is on violent criminals.
Trump specifically said in an April said that Dreamers should ‘rest easy’ and told ABC News ‘they shouldn’t be very worried.’
He also remarked to ABC, ‘I do have a big heart.’
Terminating DACA would be ‘cruel’ and ‘inhumane’ of President Donald Trump, Democratic lawmakers proclaimed on Twitter as they began the last day of summer recess
Trump is known to change his mind at the last minute, the article reminded, leaving the door open for a change in his position
Democrat Jim Cooper of Tennessee latched onto those very same comments in a string of tweets on Monday defending the DACA program.
‘President Trump once pledged a compassionate approach to these Dreamers, so ending DACA would be another of his broken promises,’ Cooper said. ‘These young people are innocent. Their lack of paperwork is not their fault, so they should not be punished.’
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, similarly remarked that Trump had ‘some heart’ in a Sunday night tweet she pinned to the top of her account.
‘After teasing #Dreamers for months with talk of his “great heart,” @POTUS slams door on them. Some “heart”…’ she said. ‘If reports of ending #DACA within 6 months are true, #Congress must work immediately to pass law protecting #Dreamers who only know the US’.
The program’s creator, Obama, has been silent on the matter so far but is anticipated to make the case for his program on social media.
The two-term Democrat pledged at his last news conference in January that DACA is the one instance in which he would come out of retirement to confront his successor.
‘The notion that we would just arbitrarily or because of politics punish those kids, when they didn’t do anything wrong themselves, I think would be something that would merit me speaking out,’ Obama said then.
In the meantime, lawmakers from his party have led the charge on Twitter.
DACA is an Obama-era initiative that grants work permits to more than 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country by family members as children. Above people gather in support of the program in Los Angeles on Friday
California Rep. Scott Peters early this am tweeted: ‘Ending #DACA inconsistent with American values and interests, and the cruelty is breathtaking. We will have to fight back to #SaveDACA.’
Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin reminded ‘that most DREAMers have only known USA as home.’
‘Without legit reason, real families will be hurt by @POTUS,’ Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee said.
California’s Ted Lieu made a play on the president’s frequent misuse of ‘heeling’ and ‘healing’ on Twitter and said: ‘If @realDonaldTrump was interested in healing our nation, he wouldn’t end #DACA. His decision is based on heeling to his shrinking base.’
Trump seemed content to leave alone the DACA program that requires participants to apply for recertification every two years until a group of conservative attorneys general forced his hand with a threat to sue the Department of Justice.
They’re pledging to take the administration to court unless Trump disbands the program by Sept. 5.
Leading the charge is Texas AG Ken Paxton. He’ll go ahead with the suit, regardless of the disaster relief efforts in his state, his office said last week.
House Speaker Paul Ryan meanwhile urged Trump to keep the program, saying Friday on a radio show, ‘I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix.’
Democrat Rick Larsen noted that Congress could act if it wanted to on Monday as he excoriated Trump and the Republican-run legislative branch on Twitter.
‘Ending #DACA is heartless and undermines the US economy. Put up/shut up time 4 Congress & prez who has to sign a bill #notoffthehook,’ the Washington state legislator said.
But legislators already have a jam-packed fall schedule with mandates to raise the debt ceiling, appropriate emergency Harvey relief funds, set government spending for fiscal year 2018 and overhaul the tax code.
Action on DACA before the end of the calendar year is an unlikely scenario.
If Trump does give Congress a six-month window to act, lawmakers will most likely wait until after winter break to look at legislation.