Posted on April 2, 2018

Trump Declares ‘NO MORE’ DACA Deal After Report of Caravan with Central Americans Heading to US

Katherine Lam, Fox News, April 2, 2018

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President Trump declared on Sunday the deal for the Obama-era DACA program was “NO MORE” and called for “tough” immigration reform after a report stated a caravan carrying more than 1,000 people from Central America is traveling through Mexico and to the United States in hopes of entering the states illegally or by asking for asylum.

Trump, who has vowed to end catch and release, tweeted Sunday morning that Republicans need to take the “nuclear option” when passing tougher immigration laws.

The president had given Congress six months to pass legislation enshrining the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), which protects about 800,000 young immigrants brought to country illegally as children from deportation.

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The caravan the president was likely referring to was first reported by BuzzFeed News on Friday. Organized by Pueblos Sin Fronteras, or People Without Borders, the caravan traveled through Mexico without authorization last week, according to the report. Officials in Mexico have not attempted to stop the migrants, about 80 percent of them from Honduras. The group’s intent is to provide those people a safe way to travel to the U.S.

National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) union chief Brandon Judd told “Fox & Friends” on Sunday that the migrants are riding on the benefit of catch and release, when illegal immigrants are detained in the U.S. and released while they await for their court hearings.

Trump also threatened to pull out of the free trade agreement with Mexico unless the country did more to stop the flow of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. The U.S., Canada and Mexico are currently renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement at Trump’s insistence.

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Trump also spoke about DACA and Mexico before attending Easter services at Episcopal church near his home in Palm Beach, Fla.

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Organizers believe about two-thirds of the people in the caravan are planning to enter the U.S. illegally or by asking for protection, according to BuzzFeed. The caravan does not give the migrants the guarantee they will enter the U.S. and uses any form of transportation necessary to make it to the border. Most of the people are reportedly fleeing poverty and political unrest from their home country.

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Judd said {snip} “Once they [the migrants] enter the country, even if we [border patrol agents] are standing at the border with our hands out saying, ‘Don’t enter, don’t enter,’ all they have to do is cross one foot into the border and we have to take them into custody,” Judd said. “If they ask for asylum or say I fear to go back to my country, then we have to process them under ‘credible fear’ which allows them to be released into our country.”

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