Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti warned Tuesday that an amnesty program protecting hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants could be ended this week.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was started by President Barack Obama in 2012 and prevents deportation of roughly 800,000 illegal immigrants who arrived as minors. President Donald Trump said on the campaign trail that he would end the program, but it still remains in place months into his presidency.
With a legal threat looming from 10 Republican state attorneys general, there have been several news reports that the Trump administration will rescind the program. Garcetti said during a conference call arranged by the U.S. Conference of Mayors that his concerns aren’t only based on news reports.
“There have been conversations within the White House that have directly gotten back to the Conference of Mayors. This isn’t settled, but it is something that has been talked about and that there could be action as soon as this week. That’s not just from hearsay,” the Democratic mayor and rumored 2020 candidate said.
Earlier in the call, Garcetti that Hurricane Harvey will potentially force the Trump administration to delay action on DACA. “We know that this week could face a crisis. We heard mixed signals from the White House, the senior officials we talked to have said that they feel some action may be coming though maybe Texas would put that of for a little bit,” the mayor said.
The reason for the increased concern about DACA ending is due to a Sept. 5 deadline set by 10 GOP state attorneys general. If the Department of Homeland Security does not stop processing applications by that date then the attorneys general say they will sue the federal government. The Trump administration has yet to say whether they would defend the program, which Attorney General Jeff Sessions previously dubbed unconstitutional. (RELATED: Will Sessions’s DOJ Defend DACA? He Previously Doubted Its Constitutionality)