We have every reason to assume the worst when it comes to President Trump’s motivation in rescinding DACA — the program allowing undocumented immigrants to live and work openly if they came to the United States as children. Trump’s public justification is that President Barack Obama’s creation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by executive action was unconstitutional. A usurpation of Congress. A process violation.

Yet Trump didn’t give a fig for constitutional niceties in his initial order to keep people from certain Muslim-majority countries out of the United States. Now, to potentially send Hispanics out of the country, he has discovered an appreciation for process and precedent. There is a theme here, and it is not respect for the rule of law. Trump does not deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to issues of race and ethnicity. Recently, and with increasing frequency, he has displayed malevolent prejudice for political reasons. His action on DACA is another installment in this disturbing series.

But, apart from Trump’s motivations, was his action on DACA the right deed? Not, certainly, by the measure of its outcome. Trump has removed reasonable protections from a sympathetic group. It would be a grave injustice to send the “dreamers” “home” to countries that many have hardly visited.