Speaking from the White House Friday afternoon President Trump confirmed his decision about DACA, amnesty provided by President Obama in 2012 for children illegally brought into the U.S. by their parents, is imminent.
Trump said a decision will be made today or over the weekend about whether to keep or scrap the program as a lawsuit from several Republican states against DACA looms.
“We’ll issue it sometime over the weekend. Sometime today or over the weekend, we’ll have a decision. We’ll issue it sometime over the weekend, maybe this afternoon," the President told White House pool reporters. "Will be releasing on DACA sometime over the weekend, probably Sunday, Saturday, latest will be Monday."
When asked if DREAMERs (DACA recipients) should be worried, Trump responded by saying, "We love the DREAMERs. We love everybody. We think the DREAMERs are terrific."
Fox News reported Thursday the President will end the program, but White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed back, saying DACA was still under legal review by the administration and that a final decision had not been made.
The President has until September 5 to prevent a lawsuit from 12 states, led by Texas, from being filed to get rid of DACA. If Trump chooses to uphold the program, the states will move forward. From The Daily Signal:
Ten state attorneys general, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, wrote U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling for the Trump administration to end a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 1.4 million DACA requests were accepted.
The state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit, but are willing to drop it if the Trump administration acts.
“There is no way around it: DACA is an unlawful program that must be phased out,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who signed the letter, told The Daily Signal in a prepared statement.
“I am not asking the government to remove any person currently covered by DACA or for the administration to rescind DACA permits that have already been issued—this is about upholding the rule of law,” Rutledge said. “Even former President Obama acknowledged many times that he did not have authority to unilaterally grant this type of legal status to over 1 million aliens.”
Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan is urging President Trump to keep the program and allow Congress to offer changes.
This post has been updated with additional information.