As you’ve no doubt heard, Trump postponed the planned raids on undocumented immigrants, claiming that Democrats requested a delay. Here are the relevant tweets:
At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start! (1:56 PM ET 6/22)
I want to give the Democrats every last chance to quickly negotiate simple changes to Asylum and Loopholes. This will fix the Southern Border, together with the help that Mexico is now giving us. Probably won’t happen, but worth a try. Two weeks and big Deportation begins! (7:13 AM ET 6/23)
It’s true that Speaker Pelosi and other Dems spoke out against the raids. CNN says Pelosi called Trump Friday night to ask him to call off the raids. But why did Trump delay them?
We can make two evergreen assumptions: 1) the reason Trump cited is a lie, and 2) it wasn’t Ivanka’s moderating influence.
So what was it? Polling data? Concern that raids would tank a recently negotiated spending bill? Lack of resources and readiness on the part of ICE? A bid to heighten the sick drama? A random reversal barfed up by a disintegrating brain?
It’s a mystery to me. Open thread.