White House press secretary Sarah Sanders clarified Friday that President Trump definitely supports the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a day after the president issued a series of confusing statements about his hopes for so-called Dreamers.
“The president supports the DACA program,” Sanders told reporters, later adding that Trump remains intent on working with bipartisan lawmakers toward “responsible immigration reform.”
But a DACA-supporting president is far from what Trump said he would be when he delivered a fiery speech on immigration policy as a candidate for office last August.
Speaking to supporters in Phoenix at the time, Trump tore into former President Obama and his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton for engaging in “gross dereliction of duty by surrendering the safety of the American people to open borders” and supporting “catch-and-release on the border… visa overstays… the release of dangerous criminals from detention and… unconstitutional executive amnesty.”
Trump then promised to “immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties,” referring to the Obama administration issuance of deportation waivers and temporary legal status to nearly 5 million young unauthorized immigrants and parents who came to the U.S. illegally in November 2014.
“Unlike [the Obama] administration, no one will be immune or exempt from enforcement,” Trump had said while laying out his vision for immigration policy during the campaign. “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation – that is what it means to have laws and to have a country.”
It may be that Trump supports granting reprieve to undocumented youth who were brought to the U.S. as children, but opposes the decision by his predecessor to establish such a program unilaterally.
Sanders did not provide further clarification on Friday. Rather, she said Trump will outline in the coming days “some specific things [he] would like to see” in legislation that addresses DACA.
“He supports making an agreement on DACA but that would have to include massive border security and interior enforcement,” Sanders said at the afternoon briefing, adding that Trump “still is 100 percent committed to the wall, and we’re going to be laying out what our specific priorities and principles are in that front over the next seven to 10 days, and we’ll make sure that you guys are all a part of that.”
