Trump heeds Pelosi request on immigrants

President tweets reassurance to those hit by DACA.

President WASHINGTON — Donald Trump, acting at the request of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, sought Thursday to reassure about 800,000 younger immigrants who were brought to the country illegally that they do not need to worry about being deported in the next six months even though he has rescinded a program protecting them.

In a morning Twitter post, Trump emphasized that the program, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, will be phased out during the next halfyear and those currently enrolled can keep their protection from deportation and work permits during that period. Trump has called on Congress to pass legislation before then that would keep the program alive.

“For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about — No action!” the president wrote.

Trump posted the message after Pelosi asked him to do so. A Democratic congressional aide said Pelosi told colleagues at an internal party meeting Thursday morning that Trump called her and she asked him to make clear on Twitter that the immigrants in the program would not be thrown out of the country during the six-month wind-down period.

Trump did not get the language of his tweet exactly as she wanted, but it was another sign of an effort by the president to work more closely with Democrats. Just a day earlier, Trump struck a deal with Pelosi and the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, to keep the government open and avoid a debt default for three months, over the objections of Republican leaders.

He also told reporters Wednesday that he wanted to work with “Chuck and Nancy” to fashion a law that would preserve the DACA program, which was first enacted by President Barack Obama in 2012 on the basis of his executive power. Trump canceled it Tuesday in response to conservative complaints that it exceeded a president’s authority, but by providing a six-month delay before the decision fully takes effect, he gave Congress a chance to pass legislation that would re-enact it on firmer legal footing.