President Trump said Monday morning that “our country is being stolen” because of an influx of illegal immigration, and he blamed Democrats for weak border protection policies.
“Border Patrol Agents (and ICE) are GREAT, but the weak Dem laws don’t allow them to do their job. Act now Congress, our country is being stolen!” Trump tweeted.
“Mexico has the absolute power not to let these large ‘Caravans’ of people enter their country,” he said in another tweet. “They must stop them at their Northern Border, which they can do because their border laws work, not allow them to pass through into our country, which has no effective border laws.”
Mexico has the absolute power not to let these large “Caravans” of people enter their country. They must stop them at their Northern Border, which they can do because their border laws work, not allow them to pass through into our country, which has no effective border laws…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018
The president followed his comments with a challenge: Congress must “use the nuclear option if necessary.” This option would entail the Senate’s maneuver to lower the threshold to break a filibuster from 60 votes to 51. In other words, the GOP would just need a simple majority and the Democrats would be powerless to stop it.
…Congress must immediately pass Border Legislation, use Nuclear Option if necessary, to stop the massive inflow of Drugs and People. Border Patrol Agents (and ICE) are GREAT, but the weak Dem laws don’t allow them to do their job. Act now Congress, our country is being stolen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018
On Sunday, the president tweeted: “NO MORE DACA DEAL,” indicating that he would now not move forward on negotiations with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This is the Obama era program that Trump ended in September, but the courts have kept alive.
Trump addressed the program with a Monday morning tweet declaring: “DACA is dead because the Democrats didn’t care or act, and now everyone wants to get on the DACA bandwagon.”
“No longer works,” he continued. “Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime!”
It’s possible that these hard-line tweets come because of the Trump allies, mostly on the Fox News payroll, over the weekend who said that the president’s base believes he is softening on immigration. It seems that while on a holiday break at his home in Florida, the president surrounded himself with people he can’t seem to find in D.C., allies that he believes speak for the voters who elected him president.
These tweets are a sign that Trump is significantly frustrated that more progress hasn’t been made on his border wall, which was his main campaign promise. Trump seemed cornered into signing the omnibus spending bill that only included a small amount of funding needed for the wall at the southern border. Ann Coulter, the right-wing media firebrand, publicly censured the president for falling short on his immigration promises.
So it seems that in the wake of talking with some Easter allies, President Trump is rising up with a hard-line stand on immigration once again.