Trump expected to axe scheme protecting 800,000 immigrants
● President is warned he faces civil rights fight of his administration
US president Donald Trump is set to end safeguards for young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children, but with a six-month delay, people familiar with the plans said.
The delay in the formal dismantling of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA programme, would give Congress time to decide whether it wants to address the status of the so-called Dreamers legislation.
It was not clear how the sixmonth delay would work and what would happen to people who have work permits under the programme, or whose permits expire during the sixmonth stretch.
It also was unclear exactly what would happen if Congress failed to pass a measure by the considered deadline, they said.
The president, who has been grappling with the issue for months, has been known to change his mind in the past and could still change course.
The plan was first reported by Politico on Sunday evening.
New Jersey senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat, tweeted: “If reports are true, President Trump better prepare for the civil rights fight of his admin.
“A clean Dream Act is now a Nat Emergency. #Defenddaca.”
Republican representative Ileana Ros-lehtinen of Florida tweeted: “After teasing Dreamers for months with talk of his ‘great heart’, POTUS slams door on them. Some ‘heart’...”
Mr Trump has been wrestling for months with what to do with the Obama-era DACA programme, which has given nearly 800,000 young immigrants a reprieve from deportation and the ability to work legally in the form of two-year, renewable work permits.
The expected move would come as the White House faces a deadline today set by Republican state officials threatening to sue the Trump administration if the president did not end the programme.
It also would come as Mr Trump digs in on appeals to his base as he finds himself increasingly under fire, with his poll numbers at nearrecord lows. He had been personally torn as late as last week over how to deal with what are undoubtedly the most sympathetic immigrants living in the US illegally.
Many went to the US as young children and have no memories of the countries they were born in.
During his presidential campaign, Mr Trump slammed DACA as illegal “amnesty” and vowed to eliminate the programme the day he took office. But since his election, Mr Trump has wavered on the issue, at one point saying that those covered could “rest easy”.
Mr Trump had been unusually candid as he wrestled with the decision in the early months of his administration.
During a February press conference, he said the topic was “a very, very difficult subject for me, I will tell you. To me, it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have.
“You have some absolutely incredible kids – I would say mostly,” he said, adding: “I love these kids.”
All the while, his administration continued to process applications and renew DACA work permits, to the dismay of immigration hardliners.
House speaker Paul Ryan and a number of other legislators urged Mr Trump last week to hold off on scrapping DACA to give them time to come up with a legislative fix.
“These are kids who know no other country, who are brought here by their parents and don’t know another home.”
The Obama administration created the programme in 2012 as a stopgap to protect young immigrants.