Trump is reportedly eyeing ending the program but including a six-month delay, allowing lawmakers an opportunity to help the thousands of impacted immigrants.
The debate over how to handle the hundreds of thousands of immigrants shielded from deportation by a key Obama-era program appears to be shifting to Congress.
President Trump is expected to announce Tuesday his decision on scrapping the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which started in 2012.
Trump is reportedly eyeing ending the program but including a six-month delay, allowing lawmakers an opportunity to help the thousands of impacted immigrants.
Under DACA, immigrants who came to the U. S. illegally as minors have been able to get work permits and receive temporary deferral from deportation.
The expected end to DACA has prompted bipartisan calls from lawmakers for Congress to act to help the roughly 800,000 immigrants who have benefited from the program.
Many Republicans have said it’s the responsibility of Congress to do something, even as they maintain that the Obama administration didn’t have the authority to create DACA in the first place.
Tuesday’s expected announcement would up the stakes for Congress to act. Lindsey Graham Dick Durbin
Prior to reports Sunday on the expected contents of Trump’s DACA decision, several high-profile GOP lawmakers urged Trump to keep protections for the recipients in place and also expressed an interest in Congress passing legislation on the topic. Paul Ryan Orrin Hatch
Other Republicans weighed in on the need for legislation after Politico reported that Trump was expected to terminate DACA with a six-month delay.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told a Dallas Morning News reporter on Monday that the six-month delay gives Congress an opportunity to pass legislation.
McCarthy added that he thinks the House could codify some of the protections for immigrants in DACA as part of a broader package that could also include border-security provisions, according to the reporter.
Some GOP lawmakers said that while Congress takes action to help those brought to the U. S. illegally as children, it should also take steps to enforce immigration laws and curb illegal immigration. James Lankford Tom Cotton
« We should find a way to give [DACA recipients] legal status, » Cotton told the Examiner, « but we also have to mitigate the inevitable consequences of that action. »
Pairing protections for DACA recipients with new immigration enforcement measures could turn off Democrats, who have ardently opposed Trump’s moves on immigration.
Legislation will need the support of at least eight Democratic senators to clear the upper chamber. Democrats have pressed Republicans to work with them on legislation if Trump does cancel DACA.
« House Republicans must join Democrats to pass legislation to safeguard our young DREAMers from the senseless cruelty of deportation and shield families from separation and heartbreak, » House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement Monday, using a term commonly used to refer to DACA recipients. Chris Murphy
