WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the Trump administration’s decision to cancel one program to protect some immigrants in the country illegally from deportation (all times local):
3:35 p.m.
The Trump administration says it hasn’t decided the fate of a program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation, despite saying a day earlier that the program will continue.
The mixed signals reflect the political sensitivities behind the Obama administration program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. As a candidate, Donald Trump denounced the program as an “illegal amnesty” and said he would immediately end it.
Since taking office, Trump has expressed empathy for the participants.
Cancelling the program could mean trying to deport more than 787,000 people who identified themselves to the government in exchange for temporary protection. Continuing it would be unpopular with many of his supporters.
Homeland Security Department spokesman David Lapan says no decisions about DACA’s ultimate fate have been made.
10:02 a.m.
The Trump administration is leaving in place a program protecting hundreds of thousands young immigrants from deportation - one that President Donald Trump had pledged to eliminate.
The announcement to continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, was made quietly late Thursday. The decision was noted at the bottom of an administration statement announcing the end of another Obama-era immigration program. That program, protecting the immigrant parents of U.S. citizens, was never implemented.
Despite his campaign pledges to eliminate DACA, Trump had repeatedly expressed empathy with program participants, often referred to as “dreamers.” Many arrived in the United States as small children and have little recollection of their birth countries.
The program does not give them residency status, but temporarily protects them from deportation and allows them to work legally.
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3:21 a.m.
The Trump administration is formally revoking an Obama-era program intended to protect immigrant parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents from deportation.
The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program was announced by the Obama administration in 2014 but was blocked by a federal judge in Texas after 26 states challenged the program’s legality in federal court.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly formally revoked the policy memo that created the program, which mirrored an earlier effort to shield from deportation young immigrants in the country illegally, late Thursday. It was revoked five years to the day after President Barack Obama announced the protection efforts for young immigrants.
Revoking it and ending the stalled program fulfills a key campaign promise from President Donald Trump, who pledged to “immediately” cancel both efforts.
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