First Term Record — September 5, 2017 DACA Dreamers immigration fact-checked

Trump Ended DACA, Threatening Deportation for 800,000 People Who Grew Up in America. Then Used Them as Bargaining Chips for the Wall.

DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — was created by Obama in 2012 to protect people who had been brought to the United States as children, who had grown up here, gone to school here, built careers and families here, and had no meaningful connection to their countries of birth. Approximately 800,000 people had enrolled. On September 5, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced DACA's termination, giving Congress six months to pass legislation. Over the next years, Trump alternately expressed sympathy for "the Dreamers" and used them as leverage to demand border wall funding — a trade most Democrats refused. Courts repeatedly blocked the termination. The program remains in legal uncertainty today.

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800KPeople protected by DACA — brought to US as children
6Average age of DACA recipients when they arrived in the US
25Average age of DACA recipients when Trump terminated the program
4+Federal courts that blocked Trump's DACA termination at various times

DACA recipients are, for most purposes, American. The average DACA recipient arrived at age 6. Many speak English as their primary language, attended American schools from kindergarten, have no criminal record (DACA requires it), are enrolled in college or employed, pay taxes, and are embedded in American communities. Approximately 200,000 are in healthcare — including nurses, doctors, and healthcare workers who were on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic while their legal status was being litigated in federal courts. More than 25,000 DACA recipients serve in the military or have served in the military.

Trump said repeatedly that he "loved the Dreamers." He also said their legal status was conditional on Congress passing a deal that included full border wall funding — a condition designed to be unacceptable. In January 2018, Democrats offered a deal: wall funding in exchange for a path to citizenship for Dreamers. Trump rejected it at a White House meeting, reportedly because of objections to immigration from "shithole countries." The deal never materialized. Over the following years, courts repeatedly found that the DACA termination had been conducted unlawfully — the Supreme Court blocked it in 2020 on procedural grounds. The program has operated in limbo since, with new enrollments blocked by some courts and allowed by others.

Verification note

This post distinguishes between documented facts, allegations, and analysis. Where motive, intent, corruption, or illegality remains disputed in the public record, the text attributes that judgment to court findings, official records, direct quotes, or the reporting linked below.

The Sources
  • Sessions announcement — September 5, 2017; DOJ press conference; archived.
  • DACA statistics — average age of arrival, average age at termination, criminal record requirement — USCIS data; Center for American Progress analysis.
  • 200,000 healthcare workers — American Immigration Council.
  • Supreme Court ruling — DHS v. Regents of the University of California, June 18, 2020; 5-4; found termination procedurally unlawful.
  • January 2018 deal rejection — documented by Washington Post, New York Times reporting of White House meeting.
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