Politics

Trump Is Letting DREAMers Stay, And Rush Is Fine With That

Screen Shots Fox News and Rush Limbaugh

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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The Trump administration has moved swiftly to more strictly enforce immigration law, but has left the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program initiated by President Obama untouched.

Trump vowed to end this program immediately while on the campaign trail, but conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday it would be just fine if Trump doesn’t deport the more than 750,000 illegal immigrants covered by the policy.

DACA provides work permits, a social security number, access to welfare and protection from deportation for illegal immigrants who have resided continually in the U.S. since June 2007 and were under the age of 16 when they arrived.

During a press conference last week, President Trump said, “DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me.” He also said he wants to deal with DACA recipients, also known as DREAMers, “with heart.” (RELATED: DHS Memos Order Immediate Construction Of Border Wall, Maintain Obama’s Amnesty)

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh seemed to echo Trump during his show Wednesday. “A lot of people think that Trump’s caving because if you allow the DREAMers to stay, we’re talking 750,000 DREAMers, kids, who each have two parents who could come in. Look, this is a-no-win,” Limbaugh said. “Nobody’s gonna win anything by deporting a bunch of kids that we let in, whoever did, Obama, whatever.”

The DREAMers aren’t necessarily “kids” as they could have been up to 31 years old when applying for protection in 2012. Limbaugh went on to say: “Look, there’s a caveat here. In order for the DREAMer thing to be acceptable, the rest of this stuff has to be by the book. No amnesty for anybody other than the DREAMers. We enforce existing law. We turn the Border Patrol agents loose to find people they already know exist and they already know where they are and deport them.”

“If that happens, and if they move on the wall, if they move on strict border control, then the DREAMer thing is a worthwhile compromise,” Limbaugh added.

Limbaugh said that President Trump is “thinking about an exemption” for DREAMers, but this isn’t necessarily true. However, White House press secretary Sean Spicer has been sounding very much like an Obama administration spokesperson regarding DREAMers.

“The President is very clear about his priorities with respect to immigration.  Yesterday was focused on going after people who are a concern — a public safety concern,” Spicer said during a press briefing Wednesday.

Obama’s press secretary Josh Earnest said in July 2015 that the Obama administration is “focusing” its “law enforcement efforts on those individuals who pose a genuine threat to public safety and national security.”