WASHINGTON –President Trump said Tuesday he has “great love” for Dreamers and Congress has “no choice” but to pass legislation to help them.
“I have a great heart for these folks we’re talking about – a great love for them. People think in terms of children but they’re really young adults,” Trump said Tuesday afternoon in his first candid comments since
, or DACA.
Hours earlier the Trump Administration announced it would rescind deportation protections for some 780,000 young immigrants unless Congress can come up with a permanent legislative fix within six months.
“Speaking to members of Congress, they want to be able to do something and do it right,” Trump said after meeting with congressional leaders at the White House. “And really we have no choice, we have to be able to do something, and I think it’s going to work out very well. And long-term it’s going to be the right solution.”
The DACA program was enacted by President Obama without congressional approval and helped children – known as Dreamers — who entered the US illegally through no fault of their own.
Trump’s action bars any new applicant from applying for deportation protection and limits renewals for current DACA recipients to Oct. 5.
“I have a love for these people and hopefully now congress will be able to help them and do it properly,” Trump said.
There is bipartisan Dream Act legislation pending in the Congress that would allow young immigrants to earn a pathway to citizenship. But the effort faces resistance from immigration hardliners who are concerned the legislation alone would encourage more illegal border crossings.
One possibility is linking the Dream Act to border security legislation.
