Will he or won't he?
Trump promised that he would deport all DREAMers -- undocumented immigrant children who qualify for deferred action because they're are going to school or working -- during the 2016 campaign, but he hasn't done that yet.
Why not? Probably because it would be a goddamn disaster with immediate economic consequences and widespread public rebuke.
That hasn't stopped Trump from vaguely threatening the deferred action program, however, and Trump's threats could become more explicit in the near future according to McClatchy.
Advisers who've urged Trump to keep the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program reportedly believe he can use it to extract border wall funding from Congress, among other things.
The White House officials want Trump to strike an ambitious deal with Congress that offers Dreamers protection in exchange for legislation that pays for a border wall and more detention facilities, curbs legal immigration and implements E-verify, an online system that allows businesses to check immigration status, according to a half-dozen people familiar with situation, most involved with the negotiations.
The group includes former and current White House chiefs of staff, Reince Priebus and John Kelly, the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who both serve as presidential advisers, they said.
I can say with complete confidence that Democrats are not going to agree to fund the creation of a border wall and more detention centers just to protect the status of Dreamers, nor should they. It's also hard to imagine that kind of bargain would thread the needle for many Republicans on either side of the debate. Hardliners would never agree to make DACA permanent even if it led to the construction of a wall.
If Trump actually pulled the trigger and canceled the deferred action program, the mess would land in the lap of congressional Republicans who control both chambers of Congress. Furthermore, it would be clear that he did so out of spite because he didn't receive funding for his fantasy border wall.
There's no political or policy reason for Democrats to play ball and not even much of a reason for Republicans to play along either. The status quo is actually pretty good for Republicans. The economy benefits from the presence of immigrants and they get to keep fundraising off their pledges to kick them all out.
You can add this to the long list of issues Congress is supposedly going to tackle during the 13 days of legislative session they have scheduled next month before the arrival of a possible government shutdown.