Not too long ago, immigration hardliner President Donald Trump said it was wrong to deport immigrant families who have been in the United States for years.
“As an example, you have people in this county for 20 years,” he said on a 2012 appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “They’ve done a great job. They’ve done wonderfully. They’ve gone to school. They’ve gotten good marks. They’re productive. Now we’re supposed to send them out of the country? I don’t believe in that, Michelle, and you understand that. I don’t believe in a lot of things that are being said.”
This wasn’t a one-off. Trump said something similar on Fox & Friends.
“How do you tell a family who have been here in 25 years to get out?” he said.
When announcing his candidacy in 2015, Trump said most Mexicans who came to the United States were criminals. As president, he’s actually carried through with this hardline attitude: ICE officials are now going after even undocumented who’ve committed no crimes.
More recently in the news is his new policy on DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The Obama-era policy shielded some young, undocumented immigrants from deportation. Proponents say that these people, who came to the states as children, have no real links back to their birth nations. The policy affects almost 800,000 people nationwide. A POLITICO report from Sunday said he had decided to end it with a 6-month delay so Congress can handle the fallout with legislation. But there’s been no official policy change yet. The White House has scheduled an announcement for Tuesday.
Up to now, Trump has been pretty vague about how he’ll handle DACA, telling Fox News in January that his policy will be “firm” but have “a lot of heart.”
[h/t Andrew Kaczynski]