President Donald Trump is expected on Tuesday to rescind a program that shields from deportation some immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children, throwing their fate to Congress, which would have six months to find a fix.
Sources familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to outline the president's thinking before the announcement, said the decision was not final and Trump could change his mind at the last minute. However, Trump appeared determined to pressure U.S. lawmakers to act. "Congress, get ready to do your job - DACA!" the Republican president wrote on Twitter on Tuesday morning. The expected decision, with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions scheduled to hold a briefing at the Justice Department on Tuesday, would amount to a six-month extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program, to give the Republican-controlled Congress time to devise an alternative.
DACA was created by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2012 after Congress failed to pass legislation that would have created a pathway for citizenship for undocumented youth. It protects nearly 800,000 young men and women, often called "Dreamers," from deportation and allows them to work in the United States legally. The group is a small fraction of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Under the envisioned Trump policy shift, Dreamers with valid work permits would be able to stay in the United States until their permits - which are issued for two-year periods - expired, the sources said. At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security would not target Dreamers for deportation, according to one of the sources.
The move is an attempt by Trump to find a middle ground between Democrats who want the president to leave the policy alone and conservatives who consider DACA a form of amnesty for illegal immigrants.
But that means he is likely to face criticism from both sides. Nine Republican state attorneys general have said they will sue if Trump does not act to end the program, while a number of Democratic state attorneys general have threatened action if he does.
While Trump talked tough on DACA during his presidential campaign, since taking office in January he has publicly expressed a reluctance to deport Dreamers. "We love Dreamers. We love everybody," Trump said on Friday. There is a widespread belief in the Trump administration that the Obama DACA policy would not withstand legal challenges from the Republican attorneys general, who argue Obama overstepped his bounds in creating the program.
There were some signs that Congress might be willing to act, with a number of senior Republican lawmakers coming forward to express an interest in protecting the Dreamers. "If President Trump makes this decision, we will work to find a legislative solution to their dilemma," Senator Lindsey Graham said on Monday. Trump made a crackdown on illegal immigrants a centerpiece of his 2016 election campaign and his administration has stepped up immigration arrests. But business leaders say immigrants make important economic contributions and that ending the DACA program would hit economic growth and tax revenue.
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