United States President Donald Trump tweeted on Easter Sunday that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) deal was off since “caravans” full of people were crossing the Southern border into the country.
DACA or Dreamers Act affects around 800,000 young illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. There are around 5,500 Indians and Pakistanis, who have already received DACA, and an additional estimated 17,000 individuals from India who are eligible for it, in the United States. They have been living in limbo since September 2017, when the Trump administration declared that it was ending the program.
However, the young immigrants received interim relief in January 2018 when the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the program must be maintained for those who have already received it.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2018
“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!,” Trump said in a tweet.
“These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!,” he added.
While Trump’s tweets were targeted towards Mexico and those who cross the Southern Border, ending DACA Act entirely would also affect several Indians who call the United States their home but don’t have the documents to prove it.
“The United States is home to 450,000 undocumented Indians, in addition to at least 23,000 Indians and Pakistani DREAMers. It’s time for Congress to do their job and to act once and for all,” Suman Raghunathan, executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a non-profit organization had said in a statement in January 2018.
With Trump’s tweet that the DACA Act reform is off the table, it makes the undocumented young adults vulnerable again. It affects families, individuals and corporations — many of which had sued against the decision to repeal the policy.
The United States Senate rejected four immigration bills in February 2018, some which were compromises between giving Trump his border wall with Mexico and a clean DACA bill. Trump himself had said that he would be open to a more than decade-long process towards citizenship for DACA individuals.
However, with the newest tweet, the U.S. president seems to be back to seesawing on immigration. He blamed the Democrats for the failure of the DACA bill.
After his tweet on Easter Sunday, while answering reporters later at a church service in Florida with Melania Trump, he said, “Mexico has got to help us at the border. If they’re not going to help us at the border, it’s a very sad thing. Mexico has got help us at the border. And a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA.”
Trump added that the Democrats blew the chance that they had. “They had a great, great chance. But we’ll have to take a look. But Mexico has got to help us at the border. They flow right through Mexico. They send them into the United States. Can’t happen that way anymore,” he said, according to the Telegraph.