DACA Changes Aren't Due to Pandemic
The Claim
Changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program during the Trump administration were instated due to the pandemic.
News posted on
Emerging story
On October 15, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump held a town hall meeting with NBC. During the town hall, he said: "We are going to take care of DACA. We are going to take care of Dreamer(s). It’s working right now, we are negotiating different aspects of immigration and immigration law. But we are working very hard on the DACA program, and you will be, I think, very happy over the course of the next year, because I feel the same way as you do about it." He went on: "What happened is because of the pandemic, much changed on the immigration front. Mexico is heavily infected, as you know, and we've made it very, very difficult to come in because of the pandemic and other reasons, and crime."
Social media users immediately contested the claim.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that Trump’s claim is false. In 2017, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered remarks on DACA, saying that the Trump Administration was pulling back the program. In his statement, Sessions said that the Trump administration would turn down any new applications after September 5, 2017. It also halved the length of already-instated DACA protections.
Because the Trump administration did not change DACA “because of the pandemic,” but instead began changing it in 2017, Trump’s claim is false.
