Trump Ends DACA, Calls On Congress To Act

Updated at 12:20 p.m. ET

The Trump administration Tuesday formally announced it will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — also called DACA — putting an expiration date on the legal protections granted to roughly 800,000 people known as "DREAMers," who entered the country illegally as children.

The announcement was made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a longtime opponent of the policy. He called DACA "unilateral executive amnesty," and said the Obama administration "deliberately sought to achieve what the legislative branch specifically refused to authorize on multiple occasions. Such an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the executive branch." He said DACA "denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same illegal aliens to take those jobs."

Sessions added, "We cannot admit everyone who would like to come here. It's just that simple."

Homeland Security Acting Secretary Elaine Duke said the administration, facing legal challenges to the program, "chose the least disruptive option," letting