President Trump Goes Back On DACA Deal, Leaving Thousands In Limbo

WASHINGTON, DC — When President Trump ended DACA, he promised the nearly 700,000 recipients of the program that they had "nothing to worry about." But the White House announced a swath of policy demands this week that threaten to undermine existing negotiations with Democratic lawmakers, making a deal on DACA — the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — much more unlikely.

The new demands, described to reporters over the weekend and sent to Congress in a letter, include construction of a border wall, tougher action on children crossing the border, restrictions on asylum claims, requirements that employers use E-Verify, and limits on family-based immigration policies.

In the letter to Congress, Trump said these reforms "must be included" in any plan to codify DACA, the Obama-era program that offered protections to undocumented immigrants who came to the country as minors — sometimes callers "Dreamers." (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

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“The Administration can’t be serious about compromise or helping the Dreamers if they begin with a list that is anathema to the Dreamers, to the immigrant community and to the vast majority of Americans," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement. "If the President was serious about protecting the Dreamers, his staff has not made a good faith effort to do so.”

When Trump originally decided to end DACA in September, he seemed ambivalent.

"Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue!" he said on Twitter after the announcement — suggesting he may not end the program at all.

The next day, he tried to offer more assurance for DACA recipients.

"For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about — No action!" he tweeted. Even at the time, the promise was misguided because the administration's decision to wind down DACA has immediate impacts on those in the program.

After a meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, the Democratic leaders said they worked out a deal with the president to pass legislation on DACA, which wouldn't include any funding for a border wall. After the announcement led to blowback from the immigration hardliners in the GOP, however, the White House tried to distance itself from the Democrats' statement.

Now, the stage is set for a contentious fight over immigration policy. Democrats are especially opposed to any policy that includes funding for a border wall.

“We told the President at our meeting that we were open to reasonable border security measures alongside the DREAM Act, but this list goes so far beyond what is reasonable," Schumer and Pelosi said in the statement. "The list includes the wall, which was explicitly ruled out of the negotiations."

Meanwhile, some of the administration's other priorities take a harder line on immigrants than even many Republicans favor. At the same time, the congressional schedule is filled with other priorities, including tax reform, funding the Children's Health Insurance Program and potentially reaching a deal to stabilize Obama's signature Affordable Care Act

So despite Trump's assurances to the people who were protected by DACA, the chances Congress will enshrine the program in law look even more more remote this week.

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Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images