Paul Ryan said Friday he doesn’t think President Trump should scrap Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, as Trump considers what to do with the program.
“I actually don’t think he should do that,” House Speaker Ryan said on radio station WCLO in Janesville, Wisconsin, CNN reports. “I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix.”
Some Republicans think the program, which protects certain undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children, is an overreach of executive authority. But Ryan expressed sympathy for those protected under the program.
“President (Barack) Obama does not have the authority to do what he did … we’ve made that very clear,” he said. “Having said all of that, there are people who are in limbo. These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don’t know another home. And so I really do believe there that there needs to be a legislative solution.”
As of Thursday, White House officials said Trump still had not made a decision on whether to terminate the program.
“This is under review, there are a lot of components that need to be looked at, and once a decision is made we will certainly let you guys know,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
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Write to Tessa Berenson Rogers at tessa.Rogers@time.com