Trump Taketh Away, and Then Giveth Back

In 2017 and 2018, Donald Trump, by executive order, cancelled three programs intended to aid individuals seeking or already experiencing safe haven in the United States.  Those programs, the first of which we've already covered, are:

• CAM
• DACA
• TPS

CAM, short for Central American Minors, is a program established during the Obama administration.  It seeks to allow those its name suggests - Central American minors - to apply for asylum in the U. S. not by having to travel here, but by visiting a consulate in their home country.  Since such countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) are among the most violent in the world, the program made sense.  But Donald Trump cancelled it in August 2017.

DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was created by Barack Obama in 2014.  The program allowed some brought to this country as children by their parents to receive two years' protection from deportation, as well as a work permit., Donald Trump allowed DACA to lapse in March 2018.

TPS Temporary Protected Status, allows folks from these countries:

• El Salvador
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Nepal
• Nicaragua
• Somalia
• Sudan
• South Sudan
• Syria
• Yemen

to remain in the United States as long as certain conditions, such as civil war or environmental disasters,  pertain in their home country.  People who accept TPS protection can't be removed from the United States, can be employed here, and can be granted travel authorization.  Established in 1990, TPS was halted in October 2018.

Today, with his usual surfeited belief in himself, Mr. Trump played at being kindhearted.  He offered Congress a compromise way to end the government shutdown.  Translating from TrumpSpeak, he said if you give me my wall, I'll put CAM, DACA, and TPS back.  For three years. 


About two hours ago, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump's proposal a non-starter ...