Hundreds of protesters are marching from Trump International Hotel to Trump Tower Wednesday evening in defense of a program that helps immigrant children avoid deportation from the United States.
Several hundred protesters were gathered at the hotel from 5 p.m., chanting, before setting off just before 6 p.m.
Make the Road New York spokesman Javier Valdes said the march was in response to news reports that President Trump is considering ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
"There's been a threat by President Trump that at any moment he might take this program away, and what we're trying to say today is this program is lifeblood to the immigrant community, and touching it is an act of war against latinos and immgirants in the United States."
On Friday, NBC News reported that President Donald Trump appeared likely to pull the plug on DACA, the Obama-era program allowing young people who came to the U.S. illegally as children to remain here,according to several government officials.
Administration officials said the Homeland Security secretary, Elaine Duke, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions discussed the program with senior officials Thursday during a meeting at the White House.
Sessions has been a consistent opponent of the program.
Trump is said to be weighing whether to let DACA gradually expire or end it immediately.
Begun in 2012 under the Obama administration, the DACA program allows young people who arrived by 2007 to remain in the country if they were illegally brought by their parents to the U.S. before they were 16, have lived here since then, and have not committed serious crimes. Some also came here legally with their parents but then overstayed their visas.
Those eligible must renew their DACA status every two years.
More than 800,000 are now covered by the policy and can legally apply for work permits. Immigrant rights groups said 200,000 young people have sought DACA status since Trump became president.
The march was organized by immigrant and refugee advocacy umbrella organization the New York Immigration Coalition.
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