Trump aides struggle to clarify policy on 'dreamers' and deportation

April 24, 2017
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The Trump administration is struggling to explain precisely what it intends to do about people who are in the country illegally.

President Trump told the Associated Press on Friday that the "dreamers" — people brought into the country illegally as children and now protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program put in place under President Barack Obama — should "rest easy" and not worry about deportation. But Attorney General Jeff Sessions, echoing comments he made last week, said Sunday that anyone in the country illegally could be deported — and stressed that the Trump administration, for now, is targeting only those engaged in criminal activity.

Interviewed on ABC's "This Week," Sessions said the Department of Homeland Security has jurisdiction in such matters and has put a priority on the criminal element. "There's no doubt the president has sympathy for young people who were brought here at early ages," he said.

Read more at The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/04/23/trump-aides-struggle-to-clarify-policy-on-dreamers-and-deportation/