US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan has urged President Donald Trump not to rescind an Obama-era program that protects immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children, as more Republicans lined up against the move.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Mr Trump will announce on Tuesday whether he will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which protects nearly 800,000 young men and women from deportation.
It also makes those covered, so-called Dreamers, eligible for work permits.
"We love the 'Dreamers,'" the Republican president, already facing calls from leading business figures and Democrats to preserve the program, told reporters in the Oval Office, without indicating what action he plans to take.
Mr Ryan and Senator Orrin Hatch yesterday joined a small but growing number of politicians from the party that controls Congress and the White House to speak out against killing DACA, created in 2012 by Democratic former president Barack Obama and long the target of conservative immigration hard-liners.
"I actually don't think he should do that, and I believe that this is something Congress has to fix," Mr Ryan said in an interview with WCLO radio in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin.
Mr Ryan said he believes Mr Obama exceeded his authority in creating DACA by executive order, bypassing Congress, but there now 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 that there needs to be a legislative solution.
"That's one that we're working on. And I think we want to give people peace of mind," Mr Ryan added.
Nancy Pelosi, the top House Democrat, said she was "heartened" by Mr Ryan's comments and asked him to meet with Democratic politicians next week to discuss a "comprehensive legislative solution".
Mr Hatch said in a statement rescinding the programme would further complicate a US immigration system sorely in need of legislative reform.
"Like the president, I've long advocated for tougher enforcement of our existing immigration laws. But we also need a workable, permanent solution for individuals who entered our country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here. And that solution must come from Congress," the longest-serving Republican senator added.
Tennessee's Republican attorney general, Herbert Slatery, said his office will not participate in a lawsuit challenging DACA that is expected to be filed by a group of Republican state attorneys general next week, and urged Congress to pursue a legislative fix.
"Many of the DACA recipients, some of whose records I reviewed, have outstanding accomplishments and laudable ambitions, which if achieved, will be of great benefit and service to our country," Mr Slatery wrote in a letter to Tennessee's two Republican US senators.
