{"id":891,"date":"2018-04-01T22:07:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T02:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=891"},"modified":"2018-04-02T22:11:17","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T02:11:17","slug":"venting-on-immigration-trump-vows-no-more-daca-deal-and-threatens-nafta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=891","title":{"rendered":"Venting on Immigration, Trump Vows \u2018No More DACA Deal\u2019 and Threatens Nafta"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0KATIE ROGERS<\/span><\/a>\u00a0

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President Trump with his wife, Melania Trump, as they headed into church in Palm Beach, Fla.<\/span>Credit<\/span>Tom Brenner\/The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALM BEACH, Fla. \u2014 President Trump, blaming Democrats and the Mexican government for an increasingly \u201cdangerous\u201d flow of illegal immigrants, unleashed a series of fiery tweets on Sunday in which he vowed \u201cNO MORE DACA DEAL\u201d and threatened to walk away from the North American Free Trade Agreement.<\/p>\n

Minutes after wishing the nation a happy Easter Sunday, Mr. Trump denounced \u201cliberal\u201d laws that he said were preventing Border Patrol agents from doing their jobs. He said that Republicans should use the \u201cnuclear option\u201d to sidestep Democratic opposition in the Senate and enact \u201ctough laws NOW.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was unclear whether the president\u2019s tweets represented any change in his immigration policy, or were just the sort of venting he is known to do after reading a newspaper article or seeing a television program. The president, who spent much of his holiday weekend golfing with supporters and watching television, was apparently reacting to a \u201cFox and Friends\u201d segment on immigration that had aired minutes before.<\/p>\n

Whatever his intention, Mr. Trump\u2019s Twitter outburst captured the fickle tendencies that have driven his policy positions on immigration. On one hand, he has suggested at times that he is open to extending citizenship to millions of undocumented people. On the other hand, he has denounced those who have entered the country illegally as brutal criminals and raged about lax enforcement that he said had allowed immigrants to pour into the country.<\/p>\n

In his tweets, Mr. Trump referred to \u201ccaravans\u201d of immigrants heading north toward the United States-Mexico border \u2014 a subject that was addressed on the Fox program. A group of hundreds of Central Americans has been traveling through Mexico toward the United States, where some hope to seek asylum or sneak across the border. A\u00a0reporter for BuzzFeed<\/a>has been traveling with the group as it makes its way north.<\/p>\n

As he walked into church in Palm Beach on Sunday morning, Mr. Trump did not respond to a question from reporters about whether his tweets meant that he would no longer support any deal for the young immigrants protected by the DACA program. But he said that \u201cMexico has got to help us at the border, and a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, gave protected status to hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. The program requires immigrants to have resided in the United States since 2007, meaning any crossing the border now would not be eligible.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump announced last year that he was ending the program, but courts have blocked his decision. He has said he is open to negotiating with Democrats on it, but has repeatedly backed away from potential deals that he argues do not include immigration changes that are tough enough.<\/p>\n

Outside the church on Sunday, the president said the Democrats \u201cblew it\u201d after having \u201chad a great chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ll have to take a look,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Several Democrats challenged the idea that they were at fault for a breakdown in negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018NO MORE DACA DEAL\u2019?!!\u201d Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota\u00a0wrote on Twitter<\/a>. \u201cYou were never doing a DACA deal. Your actions gave you away: cancelling DACA with no plan, making racist comments about Black\/Brown immigrants, ejecting several by bipartisan deals. You didn\u2019t fool anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representative Dwight Evans, Democrat of Pennsylvania,\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter that DACA recipients were \u201cstudents, military service members, teachers, scientists, doctors, and lawyers \u2014 they are integral members of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Evans said the president\u2019s comments were \u201csimply unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s remarks also drew a rebuke from a high-profile member of his own party. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio\u00a0wrote on Twitter<\/a>: \u201cA true leader preserves & offers hope, doesn\u2019t take hope from innocent children who call America home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump directed an equal measure of anger at Mexico,\u00a0saying the country<\/a>\u00a0was \u201cdoing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S.\u201d He said Mexican leaders \u201cmust stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA.\u201d<\/p>\n