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Trump: 'NO MORE DACA DEAL'

"Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW," Trump tweeted. "NO MORE DACA DEAL!"
Credit: NICHOLAS KAMM
US President Donald Trump (R) and First Lady Melania Trump (L) arrive for Easter service at the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, April 1, 2018.

WASHINGTON — There was little peace on Easter Sunday morning as President Trump tweeted that a deal for Dreamers was dead, and vandals appeared to have struck at his golf course in Florida.

Trump tweeted Sunday that U.S. Border Patrol Agents are unable to do their jobs because of the practice of "catch and release," in which immigrants caught without proper documentation are released as their cases wind through courts.

"Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW," Trump tweeted. "NO MORE DACA DEAL!"

Let's dissect that quickly starting with DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The program provides deportation protection for nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children. In January a federal court ruled that the Trump administration used flawed legal reasoning when it decided to end the Obama-era program, and ordered it to continue processing DACA renewals.

The $1.3 billion budget deal passed by Trump and approved by Congress in late March did not include a deal on DACA, angering Trump who wanted a fix on for the program in exchange for money to pay for a wall on the border with Mexico.

"Mexico has got to help us at the border," Trump told reporters Sunday as he walked to church. "If they’re not going to help us at the border, it’s a very sad thing. Mexico has got help us at the border. And a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA."

On Sunday, as he has in the past, Trump called on Republicans to resort to the "nuclear option" and pass tough new laws on immigration. Senate rules require at least 60 votes to proceed to a vote on a bill. The "nuclear option" would require Republicans to change the rules, allowing for a vote with 51 votes.

Meanwhile, DACA remains in the courts where the 9th Circuit in California is expected to rule this summer. The Supreme court could accept the case as early as October, pushing the final ruling into 2019.

Trump continued to tweet on immigration, saying that Mexico was "doing very little, if not NOTHING" to stop the flow of immigrants. "NEED WALL."

Funding for the wall has been another frequent tweet target for Trump. The spending bill included $1.6 billion the border wall, far less than the $25 billion Trump has sought.

Also, overnight, vandals splashed red paint on the sign of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. That is the president's course of choice while staying at his resort at nearby Mar-a-Lago.

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