The Internet Tears Trump a New One Over His Decision to End DACA

Trump’s decision—imparted today by chaotic evil elf Jeff Sessions—to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is cruel, unconscionable, and totally unjustified. So it’s hardly a surprise Trump would choose to do so. But it turns out that seeking to ruin the lives of 800,000 young people brought to America as children isn’t something that’s going to go over without a fight. The outraged outcry over DACA is a truly great American thing.

Donald Trump, who makes me wish I believed in hell, is currently under a whole handful of investigations into his dealings with Russia. The utterly rank hypocrisy and mindless cruelty of his DACA move—a campaign pledge, but hardly any kind of priority at a time when America is facing international and climate-based crisis— was probably made just to shift the conversation away from his crimes and in order to pursue his singular guiding policy agenda: reversing every accomplishment and decision that Barack Obama made.

Vilifying immigrants is one of the oldest tactics in the hate book and has been practiced for time immemorial. But it’s beyond wretched to attack and quite possibly ruin the lives of hundreds of thousands of people that were brought to America as children and have had America as the only home they’ve ever known. Many do not speak the language of the country where their parents came from. Many do not know a single person there. Many had families who fled because of wars and persecution in those same nations. What are they going to do? They’re Americans by every marker except birth, now threatened with the possibility of being ripped away from their home. Even worse, these young people are only on the books today because they trusted their information to the American government. Countless lives and families will be torn apart because they believed in America, and America is choosing to betray them.

I want you to close your eyes and imagine that tomorrow you’re going to be deported to the country where your ancestors came from. Unless you’re Native American, every single “American” is the product of immigrants, most of whom were once the subject to the same kind of vilification and hatred when they arrived on these shores. So, are you ready to go?

Luckily, the outrage over Trump’s DACA abomination is spreading. I may live in a liberal bubble, but many Republicans have come out against the decision—if even just because it’s bad for business. DACA folks have passed background checks, paid fees, and pay taxes. They’ve jumped through countless hoops to prove themselves, but it’s not enough for the criminal in the White House. The cost to try and deport them will soar into the billions, not to mention the loss in workers to countless companies—so even Republicans aren’t vocally supporting Trump. And for most of us, it’s the utter inhumanity of the decision that is most disgusting. It makes no sense, no one was clamoring for this, and it betrays every value Americans like to whisper to themselves at night to stay warm. We will not let DACA go quietly.

Here’s a small sampling of what the Internet has to say on the subject.

From the heroic woman who was arrested for climbing the 30-foot flagpole in South Carolina to remove the Confederate flag:

Casual reminder that Donald Trump received five separate deferments from military service:

Print this for me on a hat:

Thanks, Al:

So fucking sad but true:

A bite-sized rancid Keebler elf:

This:

THIS:

hypocrisy, noun: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform

Me all day everyday:

Beyond Cruel: The Donald Trump Adult Coloring Book

A little louder for the people in the back:

This is the only Trumpian dictum:

Embroider this for me on a throw pillow:

Donald Trump is, and always has been, a coward of the lowest order:

Even louder, for the people in the very back:

No, no there is not.

Ha ha ha Geraldo, I have some news for you…

The word here is “owned,” Brenda.

Putting this on the sign I’m taking to the DACA protest later:

I think the descriptive you’re really looking for is “cowardly piece of shit move.”

To quote our very own Dan Van Winkle, “fuck everything.”

DING DING DING, we have a winner:

Here’s what’s happening right now on the other side of things:

I believe the children are the future.

Join a DACA protest today! There are many, and will be many going forward.

And here’s something you can do right this moment:

Same, Moby. Same.

If you’re curious about the caliber of fine “citizen” who supports deporting young people away from the only home they’ve known, they’re all over Twitter tweeting nonsense like this:

What a sad existence these people must lead—having nothing they believe in enough to believe that others would put their bodies on the line in pursuit of what is good and kind and just. Stay delusional and keep telling yourselves no one cares to actually show up for anything, that everyone else has the moral vacuum and terrible short-sighted selfishness that you possess. Or actually: why don’t you get the hell out of this country you only exist to criticize, and go somewhere else?

(image: Shutterstock)

UPDATE: The President who actually won a majority of votes in America speaks—and he speaks for a majority of us:

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Kaila Hale-Stern

Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.

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