President Trump said Sunday that the program protecting immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children is “probably dead,” placing the blame on Democrats.
“DACA is probably dead because the Democrats don’t really want it, they just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our Military,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump announced last year that he would rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but provided Congress with six months to craft a legislative fix. {mosads}
Lawmakers, however, have yet to reach a deal with the White House, and the president has said that a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border “must be part of any DACA approval.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Saturday said it would begin taking new requests for immigrants seeking protections under the Obama-era program following a preliminary injunction last week that blocked Trump’s decision to end DACA.
Trump on Sunday also said he wants immigrants coming to the U.S. “based on merit.”
“I, as President, want people coming into our Country who are going to help us become strong and great again, people coming in through a system based on MERIT. No more Lotteries! #AMERICA FIRST,” Trump said.
That tweet comes after heated controversy over a report that said Trump during a White House meeting with lawmakers last week referred to immigrants from African nations, El Salvador and Haiti as coming from “shithole countries.”
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” the president reportedly said.