Obama's program protecting 800,000 young migrants cancelled

The program of former US President Barack Obama to help young migrants will be terminated, announced US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reports the Patria agency.

The program was introduced five years ago and covered about 800,000 young people, mostly from Latin American countries, writes Telegram.

It protected them from deportation in cases where they lacked personal documents, granting them appropriate temporary work or study permits. However, critics say it was essentially an amnesty for illegal migrants.

US President Donald Trump throughout his presidential campaign last year held quite tough stances on the issue of migrants. At that time, he also announced that he would cancel this Obama program if elected US president.

Now, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has called this program, known as Daca, an open circumvention of immigration laws.

- The state must set a limit on how many migrants we will admit each year - he said, adding that it is simply not possible to accept and receive all those who wish to come to the United States.

- From today, no new applications will be processed - Sessions further stated.

A deadline of 6 months has been set for Congress to pass a new law on this issue. However, it seems likely that reaching an agreement in Congress on a topic that has divided Washington for years will be difficult.

Daca is actually a program that protects those under 30 who would submit their request to the Department of Homeland Security.

Users must undergo an FBI check and must not have a criminal record. In that case, the government would then grant them free residence for a period of two years so they could work or study in the United States.