In summary
President Trump appears to be dramatically softening his tone regarding a popular program for immigrant children, telling ABC News that the program’s participants “shouldn’t be very worried” about deportation.
President Trump appears to be dramatically softening his tone regarding a popular program for immigrant children, telling ABC News that the program’s participants “shouldn’t be very worried” about deportation.
“I do have a big heart. We’re going to take care of everybody,” Trump said in an ABC News interview. “Where you have great people that are here that have done a good job, they should be far less worried.”
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, currently protects roughly 750,000 immigrant children whose parents brought them to this country illegally, allowing them to work and go to college.
Former President Barack Obama created the program with an executive order in 2012 after Congress debated but failed to pass the so-called DREAM Act, which would have given immigrant children similar legal protections. He acted one year after California adopted its own legislation for DREAMers, allowing them to obtain scholarships to attend state universities.
DREAM stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors.