Daca: Trump 'to scrap' amnesty for young immigrants

US President Donald Trump has decided to scrap a
programme that protects young undocumented
immigrants, according to reports.
He will give Congress six months to draw up legislation
to replace the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
(Daca), sources quoted by US media say.
The decision, first reported in Politico , is considered a
compromise amid strong support for the scheme.
However, the sources cautioned that Mr Trump could
still change his mind.
He is due to formally announce his decision on
Tuesday.
The Obama-era Daca programme protects hundreds of
thousands of so-called "Dreamers" from deportation
and provides work and study permits.
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According to Politico, the White House informed House
Speaker Paul Ryan of the president's decision on
Sunday morning.
Mr Ryan last week urged the president not to scrap the
scheme, arguing it left many young people "in limbo".
"These are kids who know no other country, who were
brought here by their parents and don't know another
home," he said.
Mr Ryan is one of a growing number of Republican
lawmakers and business leaders to speak out against
scrapping the programme.
While campaigning for office, Mr Trump took a hard-line
on immigration and said he planned to "immediately
terminate" the Daca programme.
But since then he has said he finds the subject "very,
very tough".
He said he intends to show "great heart" in dealing
with what he described as, in many cases, "incredible
kids".
The decision to give Congress six months to draft an
alternative is seen as a compromise after Republican
lawmakers and business leaders from companies
including Google, General Motors and Microsoft urged
Mr Trump to retain the programme.
On Sunday, former Democratic presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton tweeted: "Thanks to Dreamers' courage
& resolve, #DACA has allowed thousands of young
people to contribute to our society. We're better for it."
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American Republican
Representative from Florida, also took to Twitter to
vent her frustration, saying: "After teasing #Dreamers
for months with talk of his 'great heart,' @POTUS
slams door on them. Some 'heart'."
What is Daca?
The Daca programme protects roughly 750,000 people
in the US from deportation and provides temporary
permits for work and study.
In order to qualify for Daca, applicants under the age
of 30 submit personal information to the Department of
Homeland Security.
They must go through an FBI background check and
have a clean criminal background, and either be in
school, recently graduated or have been honourably
discharged from the military.
In exchange, the US government agrees to "defer" any
action on their immigration status for a period of two
years.
The majority of so-called Dreamer immigrants in the
US are from Mexico and other Latin American
countries.

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