Hardline opponents of legalizing immigration are at odds with President Donald Trump about the status of Dreamers, young undocumented immigrants, according to The New York Times.
Trump has called them "incredible kids" but during his presidential campaign, promised to "terminate" the protections President Barack Obama had set up that prevented them from being deported, The Times reported.
"To me, it's one of the most difficult subjects I have, because you have these incredible kids… I have to deal with a lot of politicians, don't forget. And I have to convince them that what I'm saying is right," Trump said at a recent news conference.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump is sympathetic to the issues the Dreamers face. "His thinking is: 'We don't have to deal with this right now. I want to hear more. I want to plan how we deal with this," Spicer said.
Within the president's administration, advisers have raised concerns about the sympathetic way that Trump has referred to the Dreamers, noting that many Dreamers are in their 20s and 30s.
"Our immigration folks are like, 'Stop calling them kids," Spicer said.
"He's really starting to anger his base with this," Roy Beck president of the immigration reduction group NumbersUSA told The Times. "I've got people really angry and talking about 'He's double crossed us, he's deceived us.' You could say that the troops are restless, and I can't blame them," Beck said.
"His promise on DACA was pretty clear and unequivocal," Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies said, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created by Obama., The Times reported.
Dreamers are cautiously optimistic about Trump's plans.
"His comments have been more positive than many of us would have expected. But for a year and a half, he campaigned on deporting us on Day 1 , and even now, he hasn't taken that off the table," Astrid Silva, a Las Vegas immigrant organizer, told The Times.
Trump rescinding DACA could deactivate temporary work permits, which could leave hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants subject to deportation under Trump's new guidelines.
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