"We love the dreamers, we love everybody," Trump told reporters yesterday, using a shorthand term for the nearly 800,000 young people who were given a reprieve from deportation and temporary work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program created by the Obama administration.
Asked what he would say to young immigrants who are awaiting his move, scared about their fate, he replied, "I think the dreamers are terrific."
"I think the decision itself is weighing on him, certainly," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said yesterday.
Trump had slammed the program as illegal "amnesty" during his campaign and pledged to end it on his first day in office. But he has changed his rhetoric since the election, telling those covered they could "rest easy" and continuing to grant new two-year, renewable work permits.
Many DACA advocates still expect the president to announce that he will halt the issuance of new work permits under the program, effectively phasing it out.
Another option under consideration would be for the White House to announce that it will allow the lawsuit to go forward and decline to have the Justice Department defend DACA in court, taking the matter out of their hands.
In the meantime, advocates and lawmakers have been trying to apply last-minute pressure with Twitter messages, public comments and events.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said he hoped the president would choose not to roll back DACA protections and instead give Congress time to act.
Utah GOP Senator Orrin Hatch also urged Trump not to revoke former President Barack Obama's efforts to protect "individuals who entered our country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here."
Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday that he had a "great feeling for DACA" and said he'd be announcing a decision as soon as Friday afternoon and by Monday, at the latest.
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