Trump trashes amnesty for kids

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has ended an amnesty for 800,000 people brought illegally to the United States as minors, throwing their future in serious doubt and triggering fierce condemnation from across the political spectrum.

Business leaders, unions, religious groups, opposition Democrats and many within Mr Trump’s own Republican party joined forces to criticise the phased end of protections for people who arrived in the US under the age of 16.

So-called “Dreamers” – many Hispanic, now in their twenties – will have somewhere between six and around 24 months before they become illegal and subject to potential deportation.

“This is the only country I know,” said Ivan Ceja, a 26year-old computer science student and immigrant rights advocate who arrived in the country as a baby.

“My future is here. I’m not going to go without a fight.”

Mr Trump insisted he had “great heart for the folks we are talking about, a great love for them” and called on Congress to pass wide-ranging immigration reform – something lawmakers have tried and failed to do for decades.

Mr Trump had argued that the amnesty introduced by Barack Obama in 2012 was an unconstitutional overreach of presidential powers and would likely be struck down by the courts eventually.

The announcement prompted ex-president Mr Obama to make a rare re-entry on to the political stage to decry the decision as “wrong”, “self-defeating” and “cruel”.

“Let’s be clear: the action taken today isn’t required legally. It’s a political decision, and a moral question,” he said.

Republican Senator John McCain, who lost the 2008 presidential election to Mr Obama, said that while he disagreed with his ex-rival’s use of an executive order to set the

LET’S BE CLEAR: THE ACTION TAKEN TODAY ISN’T REQUIRED LEGALLY. IT’S A POLITICAL DECISION, AND A MORAL QUESTION BARACK OBAMA

policy, reversing it now would be “unacceptable”.

He vowed to work with both Democrats and Republicans to craft and pass comprehensive immigration reform.

In New York, thousands of protesters marched in Lower Manhattan before walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.

“We’ve always been responsible here, paying our taxes; we haven’t taken anyone’s job,” said student Adriana Perez, 33, who arrived in the city from Mexico when she was 6.

The Mexican government, mayors from across the US and the Service Employees International Union were among those who issued statements of condemnation.