President Donald Trump has decided to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, sources have confirmed.
Two sources close to the president told Politico on Sunday that he made his decision after an afternoon meeting with his aides.
DACA is an Obama-era initiative that grants work permits to more than 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country by family members as children.
Ending it is likely to spark fury towards the White House on either side of the aisle, and Trump and his aides worked through the noon to decide how to best announce the controversial decision to avoid this, sources explained.
The official announcement regarding the decision is expected to come Tuesday.
President Donald Trump has decided to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, sources have confirmed. He is pictured on Saturday after meeting people impacted by Hurricane Harvey
DACA is an Obama-era initiative that grants work permits to more than 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country by family members as children. Above people gather in support of the program in Los Angeles on Friday
The White House has been making up its mind on whether or not to get rid of the program since the inauguration.
Trump had railed against the Obama program during the presidential campaign, slamming it as an illegal ‘amnesty’ that he would immediately end.
Though ending DACA was one of his campaign promises, there were moments it looked like he would not address the program because of its popularity.
On Friday he suggested he might not end the program, saying ‘We love the Dreamers. We love everybody.’
Multiple members of Trump’s party warned him not to scrap it.
Two sources close to the president told Politico on Sunday that the president had made his decision after an afternoon meeting with his aides. The official announcement regarding the decision is expected to come Tuesday. The President and First Lady are pictured after attending church on Sunday morning
In fact, some congressional GOP lawmakers spent Inauguration Day urgently trying to reach senior White House officials about the matter after hearing rumors that Trump could roll back the deportation protections as one of his first moves.
During a radio interview Friday House Speaker Paul Ryan said he does not think Trump should end DACA, and that Congress should step in to keep him from doing so.
‘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,’ Ryan told Wisconsin radio station WCLO.
Neither the White House or Ryan have responded to Politico’s request for comment.
Two sources told Politico that Attorney General Jeff Sessions played a large role in writing the new immigration law and helped to persuade Trump to terminate the program.
In an attempt to assuage anyone upset by the decision, Trump will delay the enforcement of the new immigration decision and deportation of immigrant children by six months.
In an attempt to assuage anyone upset by the decision, Trump will delay the enforcement of the new immigration decision and deportation of immigrant children by six months. Pictured someone holds a sign in Columbus Square during a demonstration in support of DACA on Wednesday
Though Trump’s announcement on Tuesday will anger millions of Americans, it will also shore up his supporters, who rallied behind his campaign message of strengthening the border. Pictured activists hold a sign in New York during a rally to support DACA on Wednesday
That window, a White House official explained, would give Congress some time to act.
However, another senior White House aide said that John Kelley, Trump’s chief of staff who has worked closely with the president on the decision, ‘thinks Congress should’ve gotten its act together a lot longer ago.’
Though Trump’s announcement on Tuesday will anger millions of Americans, it will also shore up his supporters, who rallied behind his campaign message of strengthening the border.
On Friday afternoon the White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: ‘I think that this isn’t a decision that the president takes lightly and he’s taking time and diligent effort to make sure that he goes through every bit of the process.
‘I think the decision itself is weighing on him, certainly.’