--- title: How Donald Trump Made DACA More Divisive With One Phrase description: During his 2018 State of the Union address, Donald Trump spoke of his desire to tighten immigration, saying "Americans are dreamers, too." canonical: https://time.com/5127304/trump-americans-are-dreamers-too/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-31T19:25:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:05:31.397Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Donald Trump Made DACA More Divisive With One Phrase og:description: 'Americans are Dreamers, too' og:url: https://time.com/5127304/trump-americans-are-dreamers-too/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f023b27b76f9da3/6988fa09bc6cfc79733e4d1c/gettyimages-9124237401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3450 og:image:height: 1941 og:image:alt: President Trump Addresses The Nation In His First State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Donald Trump Made DACA More Divisive With One Phrase twitter:description: 'Americans are Dreamers, too' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f023b27b76f9da3/6988fa09bc6cfc79733e4d1c/gettyimages-9124237401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How President Trump Made the DACA Debate More Divisive With One Phrase > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 31, 2018 7:25 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 30: U.S. President Donald J. Trump delivers the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives January 30, 2018 in Washington, DC. This is the first State of the Union address given by U.S. President Donald Trump and his second joint-session address to Congress. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 30: U.S. President Donald J. Trump delivers the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives January 30, 2018 in Washington, DC. This is the first State of the Union address given by U.S. President Donald Trump and his second joint-session address to Congress. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Win McNamee—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 31, 2018 7:25 PM UTC In his first [State of the Union](http://time.com/5126251/donald-trump-state-union-analysis/?xid=homepage) address on Tuesday night, [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/5125856/democrat-rebuttal-trump-state-union/) addressed his desire to tighten the border by emphasizing “immigration policies that focus on the best interests of American workers and American families.” Trump called on members of Congress to work together on immigration reform to “defend Americans — to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers, too.” Immediately, critics, journalists, activists and other commentators took to social media to question the phrase “Americans are dreamers, too,” suggesting that it amounted to a racist dog-whistle against immigrants. Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau cited [polling](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/americans-back-daca-huge-margin-poll/story?id=50032985) that shows the vast majority of Americans feel that people brought to the U.S. as children should have the right to remain, as [DACA](http://time.com/5120633/trump-daca-plan-immigration-reaction/) would have allowed them to do before Trump announced he would end it: > [](https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/958726769879773185) ThinkProgress editor-in-chief Judd Legum cited the phrase’s popularity among white nationalists: > [](https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/958752448759455744) And, indeed, perhaps the two most notorious white supremacists active today tweeted out the phrase after Trump used it: > [](https://twitter.com/RichardBSpencer/status/958534155049959424) > [](https://twitter.com/DrDavidDuke/status/958534057159249921) Vox journalist Dara Lind pointed out that Trump used similar language when he announced he would end DACA: > [](https://twitter.com/DLind/status/958732148848123905) Journalist and academic Jason Johnson was one of many to compare “Americans are dreamers too” with the anti-Black Lives Matter phrase “All Lives Matter”: > [](https://twitter.com/DrJasonJohnson/status/958730002148876288) For those who view the language as anti-immigrant, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gave a succinct explanation: > [](https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/status/958534201753702401) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5127304/trump-americans-are-dreamers-too/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5127304/trump-americans-are-dreamers-too/"},"headline":"How President Trump Made the DACA Debate More Divisive With One Phrase","datePublished":"2018-01-31T19:25:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:05:31.397Z","description":"Donald Trump spoke of his desire to tighten immigration in the State of the Union, saying \"Americans are dreamers too.\"","url":"https://time.com/5127304/trump-americans-are-dreamers-too/","keywords":["Immigration","DACA","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f023b27b76f9da3/6988fa09bc6cfc79733e4d1c/gettyimages-9124237401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f023b27b76f9da3/6988fa09bc6cfc79733e4d1c/gettyimages-9124237401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Addresses The Nation In His First State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress","caption":"President Trump Addresses The Nation In His First State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5127304/trump-americans-are-dreamers-too/","name":"How President Trump Made the DACA Debate More Divisive With One Phrase"}}]}] ```