President Donald Trump has decided to end an Obama-era program that has granted relief from deportation to hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants, according to media reports.
Citing unnamed White House sources, Politico reported late Sunday that Trump has decided to end the program but will delay enforcement of its cancellation for six months. But sources also said that “nothing is set in stone until an official announcement has been made” according to the story.
Started in 2012, DACA, has awarded about 800,000 recipients, including more than 120,000 Texans, a renewable, two-year work permit and a reprieve from deportation proceedings. It applies to undocumented immigrants that came to the country before they were 16 years old and were 30 or younger as of June 2012.
Rumors had swirled since last month that Trump was leaning toward eliminating the program after he promised to do so while campaigning for president.
In June, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged the U.S. Department of Justice to end the program, claiming it was an unlawful overreach by former President Obama. Paxton and nine other state attorneys general wrote in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions that, should the program stay intact, they would amend a 2014 lawsuit filed in Brownsville to include a challenge to DACA.
