President Donald Trump is expected to announce the end of an Obama-era program that allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children stay and contribute to the country, sources told Fox News late Sunday.
An official announcement to the end of the program will be on Tuesday, the sources said. After the announcement, Congress will have a six-month window to act.
The program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was established in 2012. DACA, as it is usually referred to, protected young immigrants who came to the U.S. as children without legal status.
About 800,000 people have signed up to be part of the program. Many people have protested the end of the program and discussed fear of deportation.
According to a report from the Center for American Progress and FWD.us, ending DACA will have a massive economic impact.
The report said 91 percent of DACA recipients are employed and removing them from the work force would put 700,000 people out of jobs. For all those who would lose their jobs, it would cost $3.4 billion to replace them.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said Friday that he believes Trump should keep the program and let lawmakers decide. Several Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Marco Rubio, have said they hope “we can work on a way to deal with this issue and solve it through legislation.”
I'll say it again: Democrats are going to fight tooth and nail for DREAMers, today, tomorrow, and every single day. #DefendDACA
— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) September 4, 2017
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Friday Trump is “in the process of finalizing and will make a decision Tuesday of next week,” Sanders said. “He loves children and wants to make sure this decision is done correctly.”
The decision to end the program, Sanders said, is not one Trump “takes lightly.” The President, Sanders said, “takes time and diligence to make sure he goes through the process,” adding that the choice he will make “is weighing on him, certainly.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez tweeted shortly after the AP report, saying, “Democrats are going to fight tooth and nail for DREAMers, today, tomorrow, and every single day. #DefendDACA.”