Press. voanews.com
The White House
said Friday that President Donald Trump would announce a decision Tuesday on
the fate of hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought into the
country illegally as children — immigrants the president called
"terrific" and said he loved.
"We love
the dreamers, we love everybody," Trump told reporters Friday, using a
shorthand term for the nearly 800,000 young people who were given a reprieve
from deportation and temporary work permits under the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program created by the Obama administration.
Asked what he
would say to young immigrants who were awaiting his move, scared about their
fate, he replied: "I think the dreamers are terrific." Trump has been
torn over what to do with DACA as he faces a Tuesday deadline set by a group of
Republican state lawmakers who are threatening to challenge the program in
court unless Trump ends it by that date.
"I think
the decision itself is weighing on him, certainly," White House press
secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday. Trump had slammed the program as
illegal "amnesty" during his campaign and pledged to end it on his
first day in office. But he has changed his rhetoric since the election,
telling those covered they could "rest easy" and continuing to grant
new two-year, renewable work permits.
Pondering
options
Trump has spent
the last week repeatedly cycling through his choices, according to several
people with knowledge of the deliberations. They spoke on condition of
anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Many DACA advocates still expect
the president to announce that he will halt the issuance of new work permits
under the program, effectively phasing it out.
Another option
under consideration would be for the White House to announce that it will allow
the lawsuit to go forward and decline to have the Justice Department defend
DACA in court, taking the matter out of their hands.
One person
familiar with the discussions said the president was likely ultimately to
choose to end or phase out the program. But the person said the president was
looking for ways to soften the blow, such as ending the program at a future
date in order to giving Congress time to come up with an alternative
protection. In the meantime, advocates and lawmakers have been trying to apply
last-minute pressure with Twitter messages, public comments and events.
Ryan, Hatch
House Speaker
Paul Ryan said he hoped the president would choose not to roll back DACA
protections and instead give Congress time to act. "These are kids who
know no other country, who are brought here by their parents and don't know
another home. And so I really do believe that there needs to be a legislative
solution," he told Wisconsin radio station WCLO. Utah Republican Senator
Orrin Hatch also urged Trump not to revoke former President Barack Obama's
efforts to protect "individuals who entered our country unlawfully as
children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives
here."
Trump told
reporters at the White House on Friday that he had a "great feeling for
DACA" and said he'd be announcing a decision as soon as Friday afternoon
and by Monday, at the latest. Sanders later told reporters the White House was
"in the process of finalizing" its decision and would be announcing
it Tuesday.
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