Trump Backpedals on DACA

After meeting with Democratic leaders on September 13, President Trump struck a compromise to increase the protection of undocumented immigrants and to replace DACA. The deal, however, does not include plans for a wall, but that of a border security package according to New York Times.

The meeting on Sept. 13, improved the morale of Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi. In a joint statement they said they had a “productive” meeting with the president, “We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides.” This was however shot down by the president the next day, claiming that a deal had not been struck.

While the Democrats have pinned this as a victory for their policies, his flip-flopping position has left the Republican side in a stagnated state and has alienated some of his strongest allies.

On Sep. 13, Breitbart, known for their support for Trump during the elections, and run by the former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, had the headline “Amnesty Don.” on their website.

On the Sept. 14, Chuck Schumer was caught by a microphone on the Senate floor talking about his meeting with the President, “Here’s what I told him, I said, ‘Mr. President, you’re much better off if you sometimes step right and you sometimes step left. If you have to step in one direction, you’re boxed.” Stating the need to be malleable to both sides to get things done.

President Trump gave Congress the task of finding a replacement for DACA, which was previously enacted under President Obama, extending the protections offered by the previous administration but also slowly winding it down over a six-month period. Though it already has shown signs of being bogged down as it “isn’t at the top of the agenda right now” says Republican Representative Mike Coffman, as Congress deals with a slew of other issues.

This comes after the announcement of the ending of DACA. In a speech given by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Sept. 5, in which he stated he would end the program due to the strong surge of unaccompanied minors across the border, along with the humanitarian crisis it has yielded. Stating that DACA has “denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same jobs to go to illegal aliens.”

Originally started under the Obama Administration, DACA protects an estimated 800 thousand undocumented immigrants by granting them the legal status to work under protection and diminishes the risk of deportation.

The changes to DACA have been widely met with negative criticism from many. Chabot student Wagner Perez states, “It’d be a disappointment to me and many others if DACA is withdrawn due to the progress we have made in recent time to help accommodate immigrants.” he follows up with, “So the fact that this is being proposed just feels like a giant step in the wrong direction. Whether we like it or not, the US has to have some border security. The Wall was always a dead idea. I had no doubt in my mind it wouldn’t happen.”

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