Donald Trump Libelslandering The DACA Kids, So That's A Surprise

You know who's really a 'hardened criminal'? Half his administration!

With the Trump administration's attempt to shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program being argued before the Supreme Court today, the Great Man took the opportunity to tweet about it. Remember how he used to say his "heart just breaks" for the plight of folks who were brought to the US as little kids and through no fault of their own don't have legal status because of their illegally border-crossing parents (who are of course scum)? He even briefly said this about DACA kids, shortly after he decided to end DACA and then found out that wasn't popular. 

Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!.....

— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1505384921.0 

Trump's opinion of those fine young men and women is as variable as anything else rattling around in his head, so of course this morning he decided the best strategy would be to simply lie through his teeth about DACA recipients:

Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from “angels.” Some are very tough, hardened criminals. P… https: //t.co/YpBQiUk0vL

— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1573559128.0 

You know how it is: Sure, they may be cute and innocent-looking when they're young, but whatever country in Mexico they're from Donald Trump knows they're murderers and rapists, they sell drugs, and some, he supposes, are good people, although that last bit is open to revision for the 2020 campaign.

In mere reality, getting convicted for a crime means no more DACA.A felony or serious misdemeanor, or three misdemeanors of any kind, results in ejection from the program, period. That's been one of the very basic rules from the beginning. Not that Donald Trump sees any reason to get all hung up in the details. He is committed to the higher truth: All immigrants are suspect, and likely to turn into murderers. Trump had that whole "snake" song to prove it.

He's a bit like Heinrich Himmler that way, you see. Himmler infamously warned the SS in 1943 not to get too hung up over killing Jewish children, because after all, if you don't, you'll just end up with adult Jews who'll want revenge, now won't you? Better to just nip that in the bud. If we never allow anyone to immigrate to the US, we won't have any more crimes by immigrants, which is a good idea because US-born people are far more likely to commit crimes, and we have our hands full with them .

Trump may know he's lying about DACA recipients being "hardened criminals," or maybe he thinks he's being accurate in some weird way, since, as Politico notes, out of the nearly 700,000 people who have been protected by DACA, "Official statistics show 850 DACA recipients had their status "terminated" due to criminal or gang activity in fiscal year 2017." 850 out of 700,000 is almost all of them, if you think about it. But those people definitely existed, so Trump wins!

As for the legal arguments that will be heard today, see this handy explainer from Vox, which notes that the narrow question before the Court is whether the Trump administration adequately justified its decision, under federal rule-making procedure, to roll back DACA. But the Supremes aren't limited to considering that alone; when the Court hands down a decision in May or June -- just in time for the conventions! -- it might rule very narrowly, but it might just as well declare DACA completely illegal. Either way, get ready for DACA to become a huge issue in the campaign, again.

Oh, and there's this detail on the moral character of some DACA recipients:

Ted Olson, a former solicitor general under President George W. Bush, is arguing for the DACA recipients. He's expected to be flanked at the counsel table by an attorney who is himself a so-called Dreamer, Luis Cortes. The 31-year-old graduate of the University of Idaho law school was born in Mexico and came to California at the age of 1 with his parents, who were seeking work.

Amazing what this world has come to. Just think, a hardened criminal practicing law.

[ WaPo / Vox / Politico / Vox / Image by Jesse McLaren on Twitter]

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