In Nighttime Tweet, Trump Offers Mixed Message on Immigration
In his seven months in office, President Trump has proved to be the commander in chief of mixed messages. But even for him, the nighttime tweet on Tuesday was a head-turner.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump had scrapped his predecessor’s program sparing younger illegal immigrants from deportation on the grounds that a president does not have the power to take such action by himself. He then put the onus on Congress by giving it a six-month deadline to “fix” the program before it would expire.
Then, barely eight hours after his decision was announced, the president went on Twitter with a message that completely undercut both positions in just under 140 characters. “Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do),” he wrote, using the initials for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. “If they can’t, I will revisit this issue!”