Trump expected to decide soon on fate of young immigrants
WASHINGTON — After months of delays, President Donald Trump is expected to decide soon on the fate of young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children as he faces a looming court deadline and is digging in on appeals to his base.
Advocates on both sides of the issue are bracing for the possibility that Trump will halt the issuance of new work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, a move that would effectively phase out a program that gave hundreds of thousands of young people a reprieve from deportation and the ability to work legally in the U.S.
The Trump administration faces a Sept. 5 deadline from a group of Republican state lawmakers hoping to force the president’s hand. The White House, however, insisted Sunday that it had no announcement on an issue the president has openly wrestled with for months.
The deliberations come as Trump has been under fire for his response to a white supremacists’ protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump further fanned the flames of racial tension Friday when he pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, who had been found guilty of defying a judge’s order to stop racially profiling Latinos. The decision drew fury from Democrats and opposition from some Republicans, but was hailed by Trump’s most fervent base.