Published on Sunday, April 1, 2018 by Common Dreams

Trump's Easter Morning Tweets Affirm His 'Anti-Immigrant Agenda,' Say Rights Groups

"This just reaffirms what we have known all along: Trump never wanted to protect immigrant youth," says United We Dream.

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer
25 Comments
Demonstrators take part in a rally in support of "Dreamers" on March 4, 2018. (Photo: Victoria Pickering/flickr/cc)

Demonstrators take part in a rally in support of "Dreamers" on March 4, 2018. (Photo: Victoria Pickering/flickr/cc)

Human rights groups on Sunday said that President Donald Trump affirmed his "anti-immigrant agenda" when he tweeted that there would be no legislative deal to help a group of immigrants known as Dreamers, said that a border wall is urgently needed, and implied that Mexico and Democrats are allowing "caravans" of undocumented people to arrive in the United States.

Trump sent out the series of tweets roughly an hour and a half after tweeting "Happy Easter." In one, he also calls on Senate Republicans to take the "nuclear option," in other words, change Senate rules to allow legislation to move forward with a simple majority rather than 60 votes, thus avoiding Democratic opposition.

Trump repeated the message to reporters before attending a church service in Palm Beach, a several-minute drive from his Mar-a-Lago resort where he's spending another weekend. "A lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA and we are going to have to really see," he said. "They had a great chance. The Democrats blew it."

Democrats rejected the accusation. "Time and time again," said Drew Hamill, spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, "the President has walked away from bipartisan proposals that are exactly what he asked for." Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) weighed in on the tweetstorm as well, responding that Trump was "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't fool anybody."

According to advocacy group Mi Familia Vota, the president's tweets reveal that "Trump clearly has no idea how DACA works—there are tight requirements (including age caps & limitations on arrival dates), making most undocumented immigrants ineligible for DACA. There is no excuse for a president spreading lies to fan anti-immigrant sentiments."

Other right groups had similar responses.

The ACLU, for one, said the tweets were "Yet another reminder @realDonaldTrump ran on an anti-immigrant agenda and has worked to create a machine of human misery for immigrant communities since taking office."

United We Dream added:  "This just reaffirms what we have known all along: Trump never wanted to protect immigrant youth—he only wanted to further his hateful anti-immigrant agenda."

"Continue fighting locally!" the group added. "We are #HereToFight!"

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