FACT CHECK: Trump Broke the U.S. Immigration System

Here’s your reminder that Donald Trump took every opportunity to sabotage and undermine the U.S. immigration system while in office — tearing away at stability and precedent with a cruel and inhumane immigration policy. 

Since putting his hat in the ring for a 2024 presidential run, Trump has been campaigning on bringing back his past extreme and destructive immigration policies. 

Trump: “I will restore my travel ban to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country. You saw what happened. Four years we went, four years. You saw that right? We were very tough on that. We don’t want our buildings blown up.”

Let’s not forget that Trump diverted funding from the military for his political ploy at the border. 

Associated Press: “President Donald Trump on Friday ended one bruising political fight and starting another explosive one, declaring a national emergency he said would allow him to divert federal funds to pay for a border wall Congress has refused to approve.”

Washington Post: “Trump took $2.5 billion from military counterdrug programs for border barrier construction in 2019, but this year his administration is planning to take significantly more — $3.5 billion. Trump administration officials also are planning to take $3.7 billion in military construction funding, slightly more than the $3.6 billion diverted in 2019.”

And he illegally terminated the DACA program, putting THOUSANDS of immigrants at risk who’ve lived in the U.S. for most of their life. 

NPR: “The Trump administration Tuesday formally announced it will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — also called DACA — putting an expiration date on the legal protections granted to roughly 800,000 people known as ‘DREAMers,’ who entered the country illegally as children. President Trump issued a statement, saying, ‘I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.’”
The World: “The plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case argue that the Trump administration did not follow the correct process before ending DACA. The government contends it did, and that it did not need to seek public comments or publish notice before ending the program. The future for DACA may be unclear no matter which way the justices rule.”