President Donald Trump is strongly considering a plan that would end the Obama-era program that shields young unauthorized immigrants from deportation, but only after giving Congress six months to come up with a potential replacement for the popular initiative, according to three administration officials briefed on the discussions.
Officials working on the plan stressed that Trump could still change his mind, and some key details had not yet been resolved. Among them: whether beneficiaries of the program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, would be allowed to renew their protected status during the six-month period.
It is also unclear what would happen if Congress does not come up with a solution — a possibility that administration aides concede is likely, given the headwinds that previous legislation has run into for years.
The president is scheduled to receive more counsel on the matter Monday, before an announcement the White House has said will be made Tuesday. The plan was first reported Sunday night by Politico.
One official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Trump was sympathetic to the young immigrants known as Dreamers — many have known life only in the United States and have few connections to the countries of their birth — but had been told by administration officials that his predecessor's program would not survive a court challenge.
Last week, John F. Kelly, the president's chief of staff, told associates he did not see how Texas, which has led the charge against the DACA policy, could proceed with a lawsuit while parts of the state are still underwater from Hurricane Harvey. Democrats and Republicans, including the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, as well as corporate leaders, have urged Trump to preserve the program.
But Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his former aide, Stephen Miller, who is now the president's top national policy adviser, have been pushing Trump to end the program. Both are immigration hard-liners who see ending DACA as a core campaign promise the president must adhere to.