Trump: 'I want DREAMers to come from the U.S.'

Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Greenville, S.C. (Photo: Lauren Petracca, The Greenville News)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has a message for DREAMers: Keep dreaming.

“I want dreamers to come from the United States,” Trump said at a Feb. 15 press conference. “We’re always talking about ‘DREAMers’ for other people. I want the children that are growing up in the United States to be dreamers also. They’re not dreaming right now.”

Trump had been asked a question regarding President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which allows certain undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children to receive a renewable two-year work permit and exemption from deportation. DREAMers is now common shorthand for children who have entered the U.S. as undocumented immigrants and went to school here. (The DREAM act, which has not passed Congress, aims to give them a pathway to citizenship.)

Trump later went on to criticize President Obama’s handling of the African-American community. Citing an seemingly mysterious statistic, Trump said the African-American unemployment rate is at 58%.

“President Obama has done nothing for the African-Americans,” said Trump. “You look at African-American youth, you look at African-Americans that are 30 years old, 40 years old and 50 in their prime and take a look at the statistics. It’s very sad.”

Watch Trump’s full response below.