Washington: US President Donald Trump is expected to refile paperwork this week to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that offers protections for thousands of young immigrants and work lawfully.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows hinted in an interview on Monday that the President was readying executive action on immigration issues, but he did not offer specifics, reports Xinhua news agency.
The US Supreme Court, which ruled last month that the Trump administration failed to give an adequate justification for terminating the program as required by federal law, made clear that the President had the authority to rescind the program.
“We have to refile,” the President told Fox News days after the ruling.
“And everything’s going to work out for DACA and the young people, who aren’t so young, if you want to know the truth.”
DACA was established via an administrative memo in 2012 when Barack Obama was in office.
The Trump administration in 2017 rescinded DACA, which shields certain undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation.
The move was a central feature of the President’s initial efforts to restrict immigration upon taking office, The Hill news website said in a report on Monday.
Trump’s 2017 rescission of the program gave Congress six months to create a statutory replacement for DACA, while shutting down new applications and renewals, but without prematurely ending the two-year permits granted by the program.
It was unlikely that a new rescission would abruptly end benefits for current DACA recipients.
Trump has in recent weeks turned to immigration issues to appeal to his core supporters as he scuffles in polls, analysts observed.
If the Trump administration refiles this week, the new DACA policy will coincide with the official visit of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Mexico is the country of origin for a majority of DACA recipients.
