Million-plus would face deportation if program phased out

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s top immigration official warned Hispanic members of Congress Wednesday that more than a million people living in the United States under a special protected status could soon be placed in line for deportation.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that the fate of deferred action program known as DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — will likely be determined by the courts, perhaps as soon as September, and that attorneys he’s consulted with do not think the program is legally sustainable. Kelly also would not commit to extending temporary protected status, or TPS, for nationals from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and four other nations, but indicated that TPS for Haitians will likely end.

“I have never left a meeting so emotionally affected than from what I just heard inside,” said U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who estimated that millions of people could be deported. “And I’m positive that my colleagues heard the same thing that I heard.”

Kelly spent more than an hour in an emotional Capitol Hill meeting discussing DACA, TPS and other Trump administration concerns with the Democrats. It was a dramatic shift in tone for Kelly, who in previous meetings has cast himself as someone who protected the program. Trump and Republican leaders have also repeatedly stated that the 800,000 immigrants currently protected by the DACA program shouldn’t be concerned.

The program not only shields from deportation young people brought into the country illegally as children by their undocumented parents, but it also allows them to attain work permits.

In February, Trump promised to treat the so-called Dreamers “with heart.”

“To me, it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have these incredible kids — in many cases, not in all cases,” Trump said during a February news conference. “In some of the cases, they’re having DACA and they’re gang members and they’re drug members, too. But you have some absolutely incredible kids — I would say mostly — they were brought in here in such a way. It’s a very, very tough subject.”

That changed last month when a group of Republican state officials from 10 states, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, called on Trump to stop the program put in place by President Barack Obama in 2012.

The Trump administration has until Sept. 5 to decide if the administration will phase out DACA or risk a court challenge from the states.

Kelly said he personally supports the DACA program and would not rescind it, but that he didn’t expect the administration to defend it in a court challenge. He pressed the group of Democratic lawmakers to work with Republicans to pass legislation that could provide a long-term solution.