ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Legal scholars are urging President Trump to keep a program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation.
A group of about 100 law professors and immigration attorneys are scheduled Monday to send Trump an open letter, arguing he has the authority to preserve the Obama administration program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
Michael Olivas, a law professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said the letter details why the program, which has helped 750,000 immigrants, is legal.
‘‘It’s a very successful program, and we lay out the legality,’’ said Olivas. ‘‘It is not unconstitutional, as some have suggested.’’
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Federal courts have ruled the president can use ‘‘prosecutorial discretion’’ to give certain immigrants, like these young migrants, temporary protective status, the scholars said. The Trump administration has said it has not decided the program’s fate.
A group of Republican attorneys general has called on the Trump administration to phase out the program.
Meanwhile, 20 Democratic attorneys general, led by Xavier Becerra of California, are asking Trump to keep the program.