Donald Trump tweeted a reassuring message to 800,000 ‘DREAMers’ on Thursday, but only after a leading Democrat prodded him into it.
‘For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about – No action!’ the president wrote on Twitter.
House Minority Leader Nany Pelosi told her colleagues shortly afterward that she had asked Trump to tell people protected by the Obama-era guarantee against deportation that they would be safe while Congress considers codifying the policy in law.
The president revoked the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Tuesday, subject to a six-month delay. The policy applied to people who are in the U.S. illegally because they were brought across the border as children.
President Donald Trump sent this tweet Thursday morning reassuring people brought to the U.S. illegally as children that they wouldn’t be deported in the next 6 months, but only after House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi asked him to
Trump has teamed up with Democrats on a series of unlikely policy moves this week
Pelosi told her fellow Democrats that she had asked Trump for a public reassurance that ‘DREAMers’ wouldn’t face deportation while Congress works on a fix: ‘This is what I asked the president to do and boom, the tweet appeared!’
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president is ‘committed to working across the aisle and doing what is needed to best serve the American people.’
She wouldn’t immediately confirm that Trump tweeted to his audience of tens of millions in response to a request from Pelosi.
But the top House Democrat said, according to Bloomberg, that she had told Trump, ‘People really need a reassurance from you, Mr. President, that the six-month period is not a roundup, that DACA is frozen and these people will not be vulnerable.’
‘This is what I asked the president to do and boom, the tweet appeared,’ she said.
Trump has executed a series of political high-wire acts during the last 48 hours, challenging the Republican Party’s sense that it controls its unconventional president.
Pelosi (right) is pictured Wednesday in the Oval office with Trump (center) along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (L) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (2nd R)
On Wednesday he bucked House Republican leaders by agreeing to a Democrat-urged compromise on raising the federal debt ceiling, quickly dispatching a potential crisis by packaging the issue with a budget extension and Hurricane Harvey relief funding.
Hours later in North Dakota he pulled Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp on stage as he began a speech – openly lobbying for her support in an upcoming tax reform vote.
On Tuesday the president announced what would ordinarily be a sop to his right wing, ending the DACA program, only to please liberals with an acknowledgment that he wants Congress to make it ‘permanent.’
Trump spoke to the press before departing for North Dakota, saying he wants the controversial DACA program written into law – along with ‘border security’ funding
Protesters were out in force at the White House and New York City’s Trump Tower on Tuesday and Wednesday, screaming in defense of a program the president says he wants to preserve – as long as it’s part of a more ambitious approach to immigration reform
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello showed off a concept illustration of a U.S.-Mexico border enforcement zone – including Trump’s wall – during a news conference last Thursday
Trump insisted Wednesday that he had sent no mixed signal’ about his desire for DACA’s survival.
But he hinted Wednesday that he wants the program to live on as part of a broader immigration reform that includes funding for ‘border security’ – Washington’s current euphemism for the wall the president has promised to erect between the U.S. and Mexico.
‘I’d like to see something where we have good border security, and we have a great DACA transaction where everybody is happy, and now they don’t have to worry about it anymore,’ he said.
Trump tweeted Tuesday night that he would ‘revisit this issue’ if Congress couldn’t act
‘I’d like to see a permanent deal, and I think it’s going to happen,’ Trump added.
The administration announced Tuesday that it has rescinded the order that created DACA, with a six-month ‘wind-down’ period to give Congress a chance to write it into law.
‘Congress, I really believe, wants to take care of this situation. I really believe it – even very conservative members of Congress. I’ve seen it firsthand,’ Trump told reporters Wednesday aboard Air Force One as it taxied for takeoff to North Dakota.
He said the subject of DACA came up during a Wednesday morning meeting at the White House that included Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate.
‘Chuck and Nancy would like to see something happen, and so do I,’ he said, referring to minority leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
Trump deflected a question about providing a pathway to citizenship for the so-called ‘DREAMers,’ saying he’s focused first on finding a way for them to maintain ‘legal’ status.
The president inspired a Tuesday evening of head-scratching in Washington when, after a half-day of scathing news coverage, he tweeted that he was prepared to ‘revisit’ DACA on his own if Congress should fall short.
‘Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can’t, I will revisit this issue!’ he wrote on Twitter.
A day later, he was noncommittal.
‘Well, we’re going to see what happens. I want to see what happens in Congress,’ Trump said. ‘I have a feeling that’s not going to be necessary. I think they’re going to make a deal. I think Congress really wants to do this.’