Trump Addresses DACA, Refugee Admissions/Travel Ban Executive Order, His Immigration Enforcement Agenda, and More in First Solo Press Conference
as President
as President
Friday, February 17, 2017
Immigration-Related excerpts from President Donald J. Trump's February 16, 2017, press conference, during which he addressed a number of immigration matters, including DACA, sanctuary cities, the wall, his Refugee Admissions/Travel Ban executive order, and the recent immigration enforcement crackdown
In what veteran observers of the presidency have described as an extraordinary press conference, President Donald J. Trump addressed a number of immigration-related matters, including the pending litigation against his embattled refugee admissions and travel ban executive order, the timing of when he might release a new such order, his stepped-up immigration enforcement activities, his efforts to deport criminal aliens from the United States, his efforts to de-fund sanctuary cities, his call for "extreme vetting" of persons seeking to travel to the United States, the wall that he has proposed building along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the fate that might await beneficiaries of President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. The President addressed all of those issues, and more, in the first solo press conference of his presidency, which he held on Thursday, February 16, 2017.
The press conference lasted for an hour-and-17 minutes, the first 20 minutes of which consisted of the new president expounding on what he termed as the initial accomplishments of his presidency. He spoke of immigration both during his opening statement, as well as responded to several questions on the subject during the question-and-answer session with reporters.
Highlights. The following summarizes some the highlights of the president's remarks on immigration during the press conference:
Highlights. The following summarizes some the highlights of the president's remarks on immigration during the press conference:
- DACA Beneficiaries. On the subject of DACA, the President expressed sympathy for the plight of children brought to the United States as children and spoke of his anguish in grappling with the situation. Said the president, "We're going to show great heart, DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me, I will tell you. To me, it's one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have these incredible kids."
Continuing, the President said that some DACA beneficiaries are "gang members and they're drug dealers, too" He added, however, that "you have some absolutely, incredible kids, I would say mostly. They were brought here in such a way. "it's a very, very tough subject."
The President said "We're going to deal with DACA with heart." But he said that it was a difficult political situation because "I have to deal with a lot of politicians" an that he has "to convince them that what I'm saying is right."
The President concluded his remarks about DACA by declaring that "the DACA situation is a very difficult thing for me because you know, I love these kids, I love kids, I have kids and grandkids. And I find it very, very hard doing what the law says exactly to do and you know, the law is rough. I'm not talking about new laws, I'm talking the existing law, is very rough, it's very, very rough.:"
- Border Security Security.. During his opening statement, the President said, "We've undertaken the most substantial border security measures in a generation to keep our nation and our tax dollars safe. And we are now in the process of beginning to build a promised wall on the southern border, I met with general -- now Secretary Kelly yesterday and we're starting that process. And the wall is going to be a great wall and it's going to be a wall negotiated by me. The price is going to come down just like it has on everything else I've negotiated for the government. And we are going to have a wall that works, not gonna have a wall like they have now which is either non-existent or a joke.
The President also declared during his opening statement that "we have ordered an end to the policy of catch and release on the border. No more release. No matter who you are,."
- Interior Immigration Enforcement. During his opening statement, the President said, "We've ordered a crackdown on sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with federal law and that harbor criminal aliens." He also addressed the subject of "criminal aliens," declaring, "We have begun a nationwide effort to remove criminal aliens, gang members, drug dealers and others who pose a threat to public safety. We are saving American lives every single day." He did not address and was not asked, however, about the seeming expanded definition of criminal aliens in his Administration that some critics contend catch up people who are not truly criminals.
The President also referred to an office within the Department of Homeland Security that will track U.S. citizen victims of crimes committed by unauthorized migrants, saying that the new office will be "dedicated to the forgotten American victims of illegal immigrant violence, which there are many."
- Refugee Admissions/Travel Ban Executive Order. The President addressed his January 27, 2017, refugee admissions/travel ban executive order both during his opening statement and during the question-and-answer session with reporters.
In his opening statement, the President said, "We have taken decisive action to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country. Although parts of our necessary and constitutional actions were blocked by judges' -- in my opinion -- incorrect and unsafe ruling, our administration is working night and day to keep you safe, including reporters safe, and is vigorously defending this lawful order." Continuing, the President declared, "I will not back down from defending our country. I got elected on defense of our country. I keep my campaign promises, and our citizens will be very happy when they see the result. They already are, I can tell you that."
The President said that "Extreme vetting will be put in place and it already is in place in many places. In fact, we had to go quicker than we thought because of the bad decision we received from a circuit that has been overturned at a record number. I have heard 80 percent,"
The President foreshadowed next week's action on the refugee admissions/travel ban executive order, saying during his opening statement, "We're issuing a new executive action next week that will comprehensively protect our country. So we'll be going along the one path and hopefully winning that, at the same time we will be issuing a new and very comprehensive order to protect our people. That will be done sometime next week, toward the beginning or middle at the latest part."
The President erroneously said during his press conference that "we are appealing" the actions in the Ninth Circuit halting implementation of key parts of his January 27 executive order. Shortly after his press conference, however, the Department of Justice announced that it would not, in fact, appeal the court orders halting enforcement of key parts of the embattled executive order and that it, instead, the President will withdraw that order in lieu of the new executive order that the president spoke of in his press conference.
In response to questioning about the embattled executive order, the President asserted that "the new order is going to be very much tailored to what I consider to be a bad [court] decision." He added, "we can tailor the order to that decision and get just about everything, in some ways, more. But we're tailoring it now to the decision, we have some of the best lawyers in the country working on it."
Asked about the rollout of the January 27 executive order, the President said, "We had a very smooth rollout of the travel ban. But we had a bad court. Got a bad decision."
The President went on to say that his preference had been to delay implementation of the executive order for a month. He said, however, that Secretary Kelly dissuaded him from doing so. Said the President, ""Sec. Kelly, said if you do that, all these people will come in -- the bad ones." Continuing, he said that the Secretary insisted "You got to do it immediately because if you do it immediately they don't have time to come in."
The President concluded his remarks by saying, "Now in the meantime, we're vetting very, very strongly. Very, very strongly. But we need help. And we need help by getting that executive order passed."
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