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Fox News is playing along with Trump claiming he’ll work on a plan for Dreamers despite trying to dismantle DACA in his first term

Written by Chloe Simon

Research contributions from Isabella Corrao

Published

After President-elect Donald Trump claimed in a December 8 interview on NBC’s Meet the Press that he would attempt to “work with Democrats on a plan for Dreamers” — undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children — Fox News embraced his messaging, claiming Trump “has always had a heart for the Dreamers” and has been “consistent” with his policy proposals for them.

The network’s praise buries Trump’s attempt in his first term to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program which provides protection from deportation for hundreds of thousands of Dreamers. Project 2025’s policy proposals, which will likely inform Trump’s own in his second term, also call for severe restrictions on the DACA program. 

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  • Trump tried to dismantle DACA his first term and could potentially terminate the program in his second

    • Even though he said in 2017 that DACA recipients “shouldn’t be very worried about being deported,” Trump sought to rescind the Obama-era program in his first term. Trump’s first administration announced plans to terminate DACA in 2017, arguing that the program was an overreach of executive authority. This move sparked significant legal challenges, ultimately leading to a 2020 Supreme Court decision that ruled the administration's attempt to end DACA was “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act. [NBC News, 12/8/24; Department of Homeland Security, 9/5/17; National Education Association, 6/18/20] 
    • Currently, there are an estimated 3.6 million Dreamers in the U.S., referring to any “undocumented immigrant who came to the United States as a child.” DACA covers a small portion of that population, with only 530,000 Dreamers in the program. According to the National Immigration Forum, “DACA required children to have arrived in the U.S. five years before its 2012 implementation (June 2007), younger Dreamers are not eligible for DACA.” [National Immigration Forum, 5/21/24]
    • In a December 8 interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump claimed that he “would work with the Democrats on a plan” for Dreamers but that they have “made it very, very difficult to do anything.” Although he did acknowledge that Dreamers have become “successful” and have “great jobs,” Trump also emphasized his commitment to restrict immigration, indicating that he had plans “to end birthright citizenship on day one” and implement mass deportations. [Politico, 12/8/24; NBC News, 12/8/24]
    • The Biden administration is engaged in a legal battle appealing a Texas district court decision that the DACA program was the “executive branch” overstepping “its authority.” In Trump’s second term, he could order the Justice Department to eliminate the appeal, effectively ending DACA. [The Texas Tribune, 10/10/24; The Conversation, 11/7/24]

  • Project 2025 aims to significantly restrict the DACA program, and Trump is already picking people with close ties to the project for his team

    • The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 proposes significant restrictions and changes to the DACA program. Project 2025 is “a sprawling right-wing plan to remake the federal government in the MAGA mold." The plan calls to terminate the legal status of approximately 500,000 DACA recipients known as Dreamers by reallocating staff resources away from processing their renewal applications. This strategy would effectively halt the renewal process, leading to the expiration of their legal protections and work authorizations. [Media Matters, 11/25/24; Niskanen Center, 2/20/24]
    • Trump’s second term is also already becoming stacked with Project 2025 allies including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller who oversaw immigration policy in Trump’s previous administration. Although Trump repeatedly attempted to distance himself from Project 2025 on the campaign trail, NPR reported that many of the figures behind the transition plan “are made up of loyalists and allies and former Trump officials.” [Axios, 11/26/24; Media Matters, 11/25/24; NPR, 9/5/24] 

  • Fox News is praising Trump for having a “heart” for the Dreamers

    • Fox News host and former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed that Trump “has always had a heart for the Dreamers and wanted to make an exception here.” Referring to Trump’s NBC interview, McEnany said “it makes a lot of common sense the way he explained it.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 12/9/24] 
    • Fox News host Jeanine Pirro said Trump “wants to work something out for the Dreamers, which is consistent with where he was five years ago.” [Fox News, The Five, 12/9/24]
    • On Fox News’ Special Report, conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt called Trump a “reform-minded president” and praised him for deciding to “go to his left a little bit when he mentioned the Dreamers” on Meet the Press. Hewitt also said he was “surprised and pleased” that Trump said “let’s not forget the Dreamers and the people who were born here.” [Fox News, Special Report, 12/9/24]
    • In an interview with Fox host Lawrence Jones, Trump’s recently announced “border czar” Tom Homan argued that “the president in his first term put a plan on the table to address the Dreamers and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer shut it down because part of the plan was giving him money for the border wall.” Jones complained that Democrats are trying to smear Trump and depict Homan as “heartless." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 12/9/24]  
    • Jones praised Trump’s comments during his Meet the Press interview as a “great message of unity,” with co-host Ainsley Earhardt claiming that he “wants to find the legislative solution to keep the Dreamers in the U.S.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 12/9/24]