President Trump is under fire for this tweet that looks to be quoting from Lou Dobb’s show and this statement that “DACA recipients with arrest records: 53,792!”:
DACA recipients with arrest records: 53,792! That is a very large proportion of the total. @LouDobbs Not good, but we will be able to make a deal with the Dems!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2019
The tweet last night was in defense of an earlier tweet where the president said DACA recipients are “far from ‘angels'”:
Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from “angels.” Some are very tough, hardened criminals. President Obama said he had no legal right to sign order, but would anyway. If Supreme Court remedies with overturn, a deal will be made with Dems for them to stay!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2019
Many of the responses to the president directly question the accuracy of his tweet:
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This is patently impossible. You cannot qualify for DACA with a criminal record. I know because I filed dozens of them for clients. https://t.co/3vpiopW1Cr
— rabia O'chaudry (@rabiasquared) November 13, 2019
Others are pointing out the legal problems of the president’s own current and former staffers:
The WH press secretary has two DUI’s https://t.co/mHC19xzRxO
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 13, 2019
So does your former campaign manager, former deputy campaign manager, former NatSec Advisor, former personal lawyer, former campaign advisor, and current White Press Secretary…that's a very large, some might say HUGE, proportion of the total! https://t.co/JZl1fVT6Rf
— Jeffrey St. Clair (@JSCCounterPunch) November 13, 2019
But the number 53,792 is correct and directly from this report provided by the United States Custom & Immigration Service:
The president is citing #DACA data provided by USCIS. About 60% of those arrests were driving-related (not DUIs) and immigration status-related. See data here: https://t.co/rNLzadLXwR https://t.co/7pMnzDvxpW
— Obed Manuel ? (@obedmanuel) November 13, 2019
And “more than 2,000 had their DACA privilege revoked due to serious crimes, including murder, rape, etc.”:
Not quite. USCIS records show that 60,000 DACAs had arrest records as of June 2018. More than 2,000 had their DACA privilege revoked due to serious crimes, including murder, rape, etc. https://t.co/kYTNtYEhZV https://t.co/HYx93dHuu4
— Jessica Vaughan (@JessicaV_CIS) November 12, 2019
More on the report from Caitlin Dickson of Yahoo News:
The data in this report refers only to prior arrests—not convictions—of DACA applicants (incl. those who were denied), the majority of which were for driving-related offenses (excluding DUI), followed by immigration-related offenses. pic.twitter.com/QTjkAF1rZz
— Caitlin Dickson (@CEDickson) November 12, 2019
She’s no fan of the report or how it’s being used, but that doesn’t make the president’s tweet incorrect:
Despite this, @USCIS highlights the most violent crimes for which DACA applicants have previously been arrested—assault & battery, rape, murder, drunk driving—suggesting such crimes are far more common among ppl w/ DACA than they really are. SEE: Press release (L) v. report (R) pic.twitter.com/yLkUrv0b3s
— Caitlin Dickson (@CEDickson) November 12, 2019
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