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During the 2016 election, Donald Trump made fixing America’s illegal immigration problem a cornerstone of his campaign. While building a new border wall was a priority, there were other problems to tackle as well. During Obama’s eight years in office, enforcement of America’s immigration laws lapsed into disarray.

Of course, Trump’s plan to get tough on immigration drew fierce opposition from liberals. While some of those efforts have been successful, there are areas the president can use his executive authority to implement changes. Now, it appears Trump is getting ready to do just that.

From Fox News:

President Trump, as early as Friday, is expected to announce plans to end the Obama administration program that gave a deportation reprieve to hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants, a senior administration official told Fox News.

Trump promised to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, during the presidential campaign — but since taking office had left the door open to preserving parts of it.

According to the official, Trump is expected to announce the program’s end but will allow so-called “dreamers” currently in the program to stay in the U.S. until their work permits expire – which, for some, could be as long as two years.

The decision wipes out Obama-era changes to immigration law:

The program, also known as DACA, was formed through executive order by then-President Barack Obama in 2012 and allows for certain people who came to the U.S. illegally as minors to be protected from immediate deportation.

For Trump, the move is likely to be seen as a positive by his base:

The plan to allow DACA to lapse already has buy-in from conservative groups that want the president to end the program.

“Our position has been that President Trump should allow DACA to lapse,” Ira Mehlman from the Federation for American Immigration Reform told Fox News. “As people’s two-year deferments and work authorization expire they should not be renewed.”

Predictably, liberals are already having a meltdown about the decision:

Dear @realDonaldTrump,

If you end DACA, we will make your life impossible.

Signed,
The 5 million who marched on January 21st#DefendDACA

— Women's March (@womensmarch) August 31, 2017

Of course, this has to be motivated by racism:

The only reason to be happy about Trump ending DACA is that you're a racist. There's literally no other reason.

— Jesse Berney (@jesseberney) August 31, 2017

Trump ending DACA isn't about crime.

You have to have a spotless record to qualify.

It's about basic, plain and simple racism.

— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) August 31, 2017

The only reason to eliminate #DACA is cruelty. Even if it backfires politically, countless people will suffer. This is horrific.

— Travis Helwig (@travishelwig) August 31, 2017

Regardless of the opposition, Trump appears to be poised to make the move. Officials expect the specifics to come as soon as Friday.

[Note: This post was written by Michael Lee. Follow him on Twitter @UAMichaelLee]