The Patriot Post® · Mixed Messages on the Demo/Trump DACA Deal

Donald Trump tweeted early Thursday morning before heading down to Florida, “No deal was made last night on DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military?” He followed that tweet by re-emphasizing his commitment to building the border wall, tweeting, “The WALL, which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built.”

Trump’s tweet seemed to contradict what Democrat leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi said following their dinner meeting with Trump on Wednesday. “[We had] a very productive meeting at the White House with the President,” the pair said in a statement. “The discussion focused on DACA. We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides.”

Following Trump’s Thursday tweets, Schumer and Pelosi released another joint statement saying that Trump’s message was “not inconsistent with the agreement reached last night.” After all, Trump also said, “The wall will come later,” so who knows.

So, was a deal reached? It seems the deal reached was a decision to work together toward developing legislation on DACA and bolstering border security. What that legislation would look like is still up in the air.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind as the wheeling and dealing happens. All so-called “Dreamers” were not innocent five-year-olds brought to America by their parents. Democrats love to use broad brush strokes in painting an overly simplistic portrait of these Dreamers with the goal of including as many illegal aliens as possible in this protected class. In so doing they aim to build their future constituency, while branding themselves as the only party that really cares for the underprivileged.

As for Trump’s wall, it needs to be understood more as a metaphor for border security and immigration enforcement rather than a literal unbroken wall running east to west across the southern border. In any case, the haggling is only getting started and both sides are angling for the best political posture.