WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has decided to end a popular program that shields hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation, while deferring enforcement for six months, Politico reported Sunday.
The online news outlet said the plan would give Congress, where many in his own party support the so-called “Dreamers” program, time to come up with a replacement before the grace period expires.
Trump was scheduled to announce his decision on Tuesday, but Politico said he had already made up his mind and White House aides had met Sunday to plan the rollout.
The New York Times also reported that Trump was strongly considering ending the program after a six month delay, but said officials cautioned that he could still change his mind.
Known as DACA for Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, the program was put into effect in 2012 by president Barack Obama, allowing an estimated 800,000 undocumented immigrants to stay in the country for renewable two-year periods to study or work if they had come to the United States before age 16.
Trump, whose anti-immigrant rhetoric helped propel him to the White House, made ending the program a top campaign promise, although once in office he appeared to soften his stance.
Politico said Attorney General Jeff Sessions persuaded Trump to kick the program to Congress, arguing that the legislature — not the executive — was responsible for writing immigration law.
Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have defended the program.
“These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don’t know another home,” Ryan said in a radio interview on Friday. “And so I really do believe there needs to be a legislative solution.”
In a letter to the White House and top Republicans and Democrats in Congress, business leaders — including executives at Cisco, eBay, Facebook, Marriott and Microsoft — warned of the moral and economic impact of dismantling the program.
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Trump to end protections for young immigrant ‘Dreamers’: report
Trump to end protections for young immigrant ‘Dreamers’: report
C. Africa’s displaced youth bet on vote for brighter future
BIRAO: Amani Abdramane bustled around her donkey in the makeshift camp where she lives in the Central African Republic.
In this northern part of the country, on the edge of the Sahel, the sun is scorching and sand is swallowing the last traces of vegetation.
The 18-year-old adjusted a pink scarf covering her head and shoulders and pondered what she wanted from Sunday’s general election that will choose local and regional officials, members of parliament and a new president.
“I hope the person I vote for brings peace,” she said of the seven candidates vying to become head of state.
They include President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who is seeking a third consecutive term.
Displaced by decades of conflict, young people like Abdramane who live in camps around the town of Birao in the far northeast, see the elections as a chance for a better future.
Abdramane fled ethnic violence in El-Sisi, her home village seven kilometers (four miles) from Birao, in 2015 with her mother and eight siblings.
Her father had been killed a few months earlier.
“I just want my brothers, sisters and me to be able to go to school,” she said.
- First-time voters -
Abdramane had just completed her second year of school, aged eight, when her family had to flee.
She has not returned to lessons since.
Now the teenager and other young people are counting on the elections to bring them peace, education and opportunities beyond life as displaced persons.
The last polls were in 2020 but lack of security meant even those old enough to vote at the time were unable to do so.
There is a crowd outside the community radio station in the Korsi neighborhood of Birao, which serves as a distribution center for voter registration cards.
Marina Hajjram, also 18, will be voting for the first time.
“I’m so happy,” she told AFP, clutching her voter card.
Behind her in the queue, 25-year-old Issa Abdoul agreed the elections were essential “to continue the reconstruction of our country.”
Korsi is home to thousands of internally displaced persons, as well as many refugees from neighboring Sudan.
Across CAR, there were 416,000 internally displaced persons as of November, the vast majority of whom are under 25 and will be voting for the first time this weekend.
- A brighter future -
For them, the mere act of obtaining a voter registration card is a challenge.
First they must produce an identity document. But many lost everything when they fled, including ID papers for those who had them.
Three quarters of people in the CAR are under 35, according to a 2018 report by the United Nations Population Fund.
And peace is one of the things these young people most want.
Although the situation has improved in much of the country, particularly in cities, violence persists in the northeast on the border between the two Sudans.
This is mainly due to incursions by Sudanese armed forces, who are waging war in a region already plagued by abuses blamed on rebel groups.
Issene Abdoulkasim, 23, only made it to the third year of primary school.
Now he wants to become a tailor so he can afford to study again.
“I dream of studying so I can become a member of parliament. Because as an MP I’ll be able to bring peace and development,” he said.
“I want to put an end to conflicts, tensions and everything that is destroying our country.”
In this northern part of the country, on the edge of the Sahel, the sun is scorching and sand is swallowing the last traces of vegetation.
The 18-year-old adjusted a pink scarf covering her head and shoulders and pondered what she wanted from Sunday’s general election that will choose local and regional officials, members of parliament and a new president.
“I hope the person I vote for brings peace,” she said of the seven candidates vying to become head of state.
They include President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who is seeking a third consecutive term.
Displaced by decades of conflict, young people like Abdramane who live in camps around the town of Birao in the far northeast, see the elections as a chance for a better future.
Abdramane fled ethnic violence in El-Sisi, her home village seven kilometers (four miles) from Birao, in 2015 with her mother and eight siblings.
Her father had been killed a few months earlier.
“I just want my brothers, sisters and me to be able to go to school,” she said.
- First-time voters -
Abdramane had just completed her second year of school, aged eight, when her family had to flee.
She has not returned to lessons since.
Now the teenager and other young people are counting on the elections to bring them peace, education and opportunities beyond life as displaced persons.
The last polls were in 2020 but lack of security meant even those old enough to vote at the time were unable to do so.
There is a crowd outside the community radio station in the Korsi neighborhood of Birao, which serves as a distribution center for voter registration cards.
Marina Hajjram, also 18, will be voting for the first time.
“I’m so happy,” she told AFP, clutching her voter card.
Behind her in the queue, 25-year-old Issa Abdoul agreed the elections were essential “to continue the reconstruction of our country.”
Korsi is home to thousands of internally displaced persons, as well as many refugees from neighboring Sudan.
Across CAR, there were 416,000 internally displaced persons as of November, the vast majority of whom are under 25 and will be voting for the first time this weekend.
- A brighter future -
For them, the mere act of obtaining a voter registration card is a challenge.
First they must produce an identity document. But many lost everything when they fled, including ID papers for those who had them.
Three quarters of people in the CAR are under 35, according to a 2018 report by the United Nations Population Fund.
And peace is one of the things these young people most want.
Although the situation has improved in much of the country, particularly in cities, violence persists in the northeast on the border between the two Sudans.
This is mainly due to incursions by Sudanese armed forces, who are waging war in a region already plagued by abuses blamed on rebel groups.
Issene Abdoulkasim, 23, only made it to the third year of primary school.
Now he wants to become a tailor so he can afford to study again.
“I dream of studying so I can become a member of parliament. Because as an MP I’ll be able to bring peace and development,” he said.
“I want to put an end to conflicts, tensions and everything that is destroying our country.”
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