NEW YORK (Sputnik) — Outgoing President Barack Obama established DACA via executive order to grant temporary residence and work permits to undocumented migrants who came to the United States as children.
"We discussed immigration," Emanuel said in the lobby of the Trump Tower after meeting Trump. "[DACA students] are all people who are trying to achieve the American dream. They are something we should hold up to and embrace."
Emanuel noted he delivered a letter signed by 14 US mayors urging Trump to preserve the executive action that grants legal status to children of undocumented immigrants.
The president-elect acknowledged such individuals were brought in the United States at a young age and are in "never-never land" as they do not know what will happen to them.
Trump's comments during the presidential race that he will address illegal immigration head on have caused fears the president-elect may end the DACA program.
Hundreds of thousands of young immigrants have gained work visas and temporary protection from deportation from the United States under the 2012 program.
