Why Trump's immigration plan didn’t mention DACA or 'chain migration'

President Trump has abandoned some of his favorite immigration exaggerations — and picked up a few new ones.

On Thursday, Trump rolled out a new proposal for a "merit-based" immigration system, which pretty much everyone has admitted is just for optics. There's a very slim chance it'll make it through Congress, partly because it doesn't acknowledge Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — one big thing that Democrats want to protect. Yet Trump seems to have a good reason for avoiding it and some other touchy topics.

Trump first rescinded the DACA program, which provides protection for undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children, back in 2017. Courts have continually blocked Trump's move, but he's expressed confidence that the ongoing legal battle will end up in his favor.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Also on Thursday, Trump noticeably dropped the "chain migration" rhetoric he's previously used to stoke fear around immigration. That's because the White House has apparently asked Republicans to stop using the controversial term, and Trump seemingly followed suit, The Washington Post reports.

Regardless of his language, Trump's Thursday announcement was still full of misleading claims about today's immigration situation. For example, the president declared that most border crossers make "frivolous claims" of asylum that mislead immigration authorities. That's a misinterpretation of the fact that even though a large chunk of asylum claims are denied, that doesn't mean the system declares their stories false. Trump also said his proposed system would quickly deport false asylum claimants, which ignores how immigration courts already face years-long backlogs.