Donald Trump Pronounces DACA Program Deal ‘Probably Dead’

President Donald Trump has pronounced a deal for the Deferred Action for Childhood program known as DACA as “probably dead.”

According to Reuters, in an early Sunday morning tweet, Trump added “DACA is probably dead because the Democrats don’t really want it, they just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our military.”

Trump has previously expressed his desire to end the program, which was adopted by the Obama administration and impacts roughly 880,000 undocumented immigrants.

Earlier this month, a federal court judge ruled that the program should remain intact until legal challenges related to it are resolved in the court system.

The New York Daily News reports Trump’s Sunday morning tweet fusillade added yet another twist to the plot, with him charging Democrats simply want to stymie his planned Defense Department increases.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the administration’s spending plans could run as high as $683 billion from now until 2027.

The latest episode of the DACA debate is playing out as Trump comes under increasing fire over comments where he reportedly referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and other African nations as “shithole countries” during conversations with lawmakers about the fate of the program.

During Sunday morning’s tweet firestorm, Trump sought to defend his reported words and actions.

“I, as President, want people coming into our Country who are going to help us become strong and great again, people coming in through a system based on MERIT. No more Lotteries! #AMERICA FIRST,” he tweeted.

Trump has long advocated in favor of a merit-based system, first taking aim at the lottery program back in early November after a terrorist drove a rented Home Depot truck down a Manhattan bike path, killing eight people.

Sayfullo Saipiv, who was apprehended soon after the attack, reportedly entered the country from Uzbekistan through a lottery service.

Trump on Sunday also spent time partaking in seemingly his favorite pastime of blasting the media, accusing the Wall Street Journal of erroneously reporting comments he recently made to the paper about the nature of his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea,” the paper reported Trump as saying, while White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders argues he instead said, “I’d probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea.”

Trump accused the Journal of molding his words.

“The Wall Street Journal stated falsely that I said to them ‘I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un’ (of N. Korea). Obviously I didn’t say that. I said ‘I’d have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un,’ a big difference. Fortunately we now record conversations with reporters……and they knew exactly what I said and meant. They just wanted a story. FAKE NEWS!” he tweeted.