President Trump's comment came one day after his administration resumed processing young undocumented immigrants' DACA renewal applications.
- President Donald Trump railed against Democrats and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Sunday.
- He said Democrats "don't really want [DACA]," but just want to take "desperately needed money away" from the military.
- The tweet came one day after the Trump administration resumed processing young undocumented immigrants' applications to renew their DACA protections.
President Donald Trump lashed out at the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) in a Sunday morning tweet.
"DACA is probably dead because the Democrats don't really want it, they just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our Military," he wrote.
The tweet came one day after the Trump administration, citing a recent court order, resumed processing young undocumented immigrants' applications to renew their protections under DACA.
Trump has railed against DACA, which was implemented by the Obama administration in 2012, and made the issue of illegal immigration a key tenet of his presidential campaign last year. His administration announced in September that it would end DACA by March 5, giving Congress a six-month window to save it.
Lawmakers have been at odds as the deadline looms closer. While Democrats are pushing to make reforms by the January 19 budget deadline, Republicans appear unwilling to do so unless they get hardline immigration reforms in exchange.
Things devolved further when The Washington Post reported last week that Trump asked, during a bipartisan White House meeting on Thursday about the fate of DACA, why the United States should accept immigrants from "shithole" countries, referring to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations.
He then suggested, according to The Post, that the US accept more immigrants from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he had met with on Wednesday.
The comment drew immediate and intense backlash from lawmakers and world leaders alike, many of whom accused Trump of being a racist.
The White House did not deny that Trump made the comment. Deputy press secretary Raj Shah released a statement shortly after the story broke.
"Like other nations that have merit-based immigration, President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation," the statement said.
"He will always reject temporary, weak and dangerous stopgap measures that threaten the lives of hardworking Americans, and undercut immigrants who seek a better life in the United States through a legal pathway."
Michelle Mark contributed to this report.