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

President Trump speaks at the White House.

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 16 May 2019

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.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

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.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox