Immigrants await President Trump's DACA decision
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - President Donald Trump gave some mixed messages on when he would make his announcement on DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The White House confirmed that 800,000 so-called DREAMers will learn their potential fate on Tuesday, September 5.
"We love the DREAMers – we love everybody" -- those were the words of the president when he was asked if the DREAMers should be worried. but that is not what the hundreds of thousands of DREAMers across the country are feeling right now.
"I don't want to go back in the shadows. I don't want to go back to the life I had before," said Concepcion Solis, a DACA recipient. "I've been a good citizen. I've never been in any trouble. I went to college. I've done everything that's been asked of me. "
DACA protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children. It was put in place in 2012 by President Barack Obama, allowing those people to get a renewable work permit good for two years, protecting them from deportation.
"We will be releasing on DACA sometime over the weekend," Trump said. "Probably Sunday, Saturday. The latest will be Monday."
After the president said that, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders clarified that the announcement will actually come on Tuesday.
"The president's been very clear. He loves people, and he wants to make sure that this decision is done correctly and what he's doing now is finalizing that part," she said.
But some Republicans aren't keeping quiet. They want to keep DACA in place.
"I don't think he should do that," House Speaker Paul Ryan said. "I believe this is something Congress has to fix."
It is unclear at this point what will happen if DACA ends and those work permits expire.
However, with the more than 30,000 dreamers in New York, Laurie Davidson of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, or MOIA, said the office is ready for whatever decision the president makes.
"We are preparing working with our community partners, legal service providers to be ready to respond to whatever decision comes down," Davidson said.
MOIA has free immigration legal help. If you are a DREAMer and are concerned about your status or have any questions you can call Action NYC at 311.