Trump softens on immigration

Vows help to kids brought in illegally

— Donald Trump on Wednesday seemed to soften his yearlong stance on immigrants, asserting he’ll “work something out” to help immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

“They got brought here at a very young age; they’ve worked here, they’ve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they’re in never-never land because they don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.

He offered no details about a specific policy.

Trump’s long presidential campaign was in large part defined by searing rhetoric and his steadfast promises to build an impenetrable wall on the border with Mexico and crack down on immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. But he struck a softer tone in an interview published Wednesday after he was named Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year.”

During the campaign, Trump vowed to overturn President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration. It has led to fears among immigrant advocates that he will end Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Hundreds of thousands of young immigrants have gained work permits and temporary protection from deportation under the 2012 program, which aides to Trump have said would be revisited.

Others continue to press the immigrants’ case. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel presented Trump a letter Wednesday from 14 bigcity mayors urging him to keep the program intact.

“They were working hard toward the American dream,” Emmanuel told reporters in lobby of Trump’s skyscraper. “It’s no fault of their own their parents came here. They are something we should hold up and embrace.”