Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Chicago Tuesday to protest President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
The demonstrators gathered at Federal Plaza downtown about 5:30 p.m. were planning to march toward Trump Tower, according to a group’s Facebook post claiming to have organized the event.
Trump's administration announced Tuesday the end of DACA that protects nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who entered the country as minors from deportation.
[[442818903, C]]
Police said they had no details yet on an official crowd size or police response.
Trump's aides painted his move to gradually phase out the program as the best of bad options: State officials had threatened a lawsuit if he did not act by Tuesday to repeal the program, which has given nearly 800,000 young immigrants a reprieve from deportation and the ability to work legally in the U.S. in the form of two-year, renewable work permits.
"In effect, I am not going to just cut DACA off, but rather provide a window of opportunity for Congress to finally act," Trump said. He said he was not in favor of punishing children for the actions of their parents, but he added, "Young Americans have dreams, too."
Local
Trump's announcement came the same day as a deadline set by Republican state officials who said they would challenge DACA in court unless the administration rescinded it. Administration officials argued the program was on flimsy legal footing — and said that allowing the lawsuit to proceed would have thrown it into far more chaos than phasing it out. After Trump's announcement, attorneys general in New York and California said they were prepared to seek legal action against his decision.
