Majority of Americans support programme for young immigrants Trump could be on verge of closing, says poll

A deadline that could end DACA fast approaching

A woman holds up a signs in support of DACA, which could be canceled, during an immigration reform rally at the White House in Washington on Aug. 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Americans overwhelmingly support a programme protecting young immigrants from deportation that the Trump administration could cancel in the coming days.

Known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA], the Obama-era initiative gives work authorization and a shield from deportation to people who arrived in the country illegally as young people and have stayed out of legal trouble.

While Donald Trump has vacillated on the programme, vowing during the campaign to end DACA but since suggesting he might preserve it, a group of Republican attorneys general has threatened to sue the federal government if it does not suspend DACA by September 5.

With that deadline fast approaching, a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll finds that nearly two-thirds of Americans support DACA, “which protects those who were brought in the United States as undocumented children from being deported”.

Survey respondents had a generally sympathetic stance toward unauthorized immigrants, with 71 per cent saying they should have a chance to pursue legal status versus the 26 per cent who favored deportation.

Slightly more people thought undocumented immigrants were improving rather than worsening “job opportunities for you and your family” (26 per cent to 22 per cent), though a plurality (49 per cent) saw little effect.

But it is still an issue that resonates with Americans. More than two-thirds of respondents said undocumented immigrants pose a very or somewhat serious problem.