Echoing Fox News, Trump Unleashes Anti–Immigrant Easter Rant on DACA
Nothing captures the spirit of the Christian holiday of Easter better than ranting about immigrant children and attacking our neighbors. This was President Donald Trump’s approach to the holiday, anyway, after spending most of the weekend golfing and watching TV.
Something clearly is bothering Trump, and he’s been taking it out on Mexico, immigrants, Democrats, liberals, and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, a program covering more than 800,000 people that he ended last September.
The president also has been watching Fox News all weekend, including on Sunday, when he tweeted about “Mexico doing very little,” “‘Caravans’ coming,” and “NO MORE DACA DEAL.” Then, he stopped before TV news cameras on his way to church to echo the same statements. It was all very grumpy, and not very Christian–like.
After tweeting “HAPPY EASTER!” the president railed on Democrats, blaming them for the inability of border patrol officers to do their jobs. “Getting more dangerous. ‘Caravans’ coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!” Trump tweeted.
The “caravan” comment mirrors right–wing media’s reaction to a story published by BuzzFeed on Friday titled, “A Huge Caravan Of Central Americans Is Headed For The US, And No One In Mexico Dares To Stop Them.” This caravan consists of about 1,200 migrants, most of them from Honduras, who currently are in southern Mexico and making their way north.
The journey was organized by the group Pueblos Sin Fronteras, or People Without Borders, to ensure that migrants heading toward Mexico or the United States can do so more safely by reducing threats from gangs and others who would do them harm. The group, like others before it, is so large that Mexican officials seem to have shrugged their shoulders and let the migrants pass, according to the report.
Trump also tweeted out a reaction to content he saw on Fox & Friends on Saturday in an attack on CA Gov. Jerry Brown.
The president’s latest tweet on Sunday, as of this writing at least, refers to caravans trying to “take advantage of DACA.” But that actually makes no sense. As The New York Times pointed out, DACA requires immigrants to have resided in the United States since 2007, “meaning any crossing the border now would not be eligible.”
Not only does Trump appear not to understand what he’s talking about on DACA, but his comments also are extremely hypocritical. As Rep. Steve Cohen pointed out, the president was standing with his arm around his immigrant wife Melania as he repeated his attacks to TV news cameras before entering a Palm Beach, FL church for Easter morning service.
“Mexico has gotta help us at the border,” Trump said. “A lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA. The Democrats blew it.”
Speaking on MSNBC on Sunday morning, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said, “Immigration from Mexico, throughout the border…is declined…The facts don’t support what he’s saying. He’s reacting to a television show that may be talking about that.”
Cohen added that Trump has a “fragile grip on reality.”
But, Happy Easter!