Many supporters of US President Donald Trump are reacting angrily at reports that the White House may have struck a deal with the minority Democrats to provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants brought into the US as minors.
On Wednesday, Trump dined with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California). Among the subjects that came up was the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which the administration recently announced would be wrapping up by March 2018.
Pelosi and Schumer said they agreed with Trump “to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said no such deal was made, and Trump himself tweeted to that effect. However, he also called DACA recipients “educated and accomplished young people” he wouldn’t want to kick out of the country.
“We’re talking about taking care of people… who were not brought here of their own volition,” Trump told reporters in Florida on Thursday, while touring the areas affected by Hurricane Irma. “We’re not looking at citizenship. We’re not looking at amnesty. We’re looking at allowing people to stay here.”
Those comments have incensed many of Trump’s supporters, who placed all their bets on his promise of the border wall and explicit refusal of amnesty for any illegal immigrants.
Trump is the “last president who will ever have a chance to make the right decision on immigration,” conservative pundit Ann Coulter wrote in her most recent column. If he fails, he will “go down in history as the man who killed America.”
Representative Steve King (R-Iowa) called the damage to Trump’s base “beyond repair.”
Mark Krikorian, head of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the only difference between Trump and Hillary Clinton at this point is that he waited a little longer before offering amnesty.
Others took issue with his characterization of DACA recipients, and pointed out that amnesty by any other name is still an amnesty.
Fox News host Sean Hannity Fox Business host Lou Dobbs were also critical of Trump, who is reportedly a fan of their networks.
Web radio host Bill Mitchell, on the other hand, said that Trump’s talk about DACA is just a negotiating tactic and that people should have more faith. Mitchell will continue to stand by Trump, he said.