United States President Donald Trump is set to scrap a programme that grants work permits to immigrants who came to the country illegally as children, Reuters reported on Monday. The move could affect up to 7,000 Indian Americans, PTI reported.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, a policy framed during the administration of former US President Barack Obama, protects nearly 8,00,000 people called “Dreamers” from deportation and allows them to work legally in the country.

Some leaders of the Republican Party, which Trump belongs to, have urged him not to scrap the programme. “I actually do not think he should do that. I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix,” Paul Ryan, speaker of the US House of Representatives said on radio station WCLO on Sunday. “At the end of the day, these kids do not know any other home. I think there is a humane way to fix this. I think President Trump agrees with fixing this, and it is got to be up to the legislature. I think we need some time.”

Facing opposition from both the Republican and Democratic parties, the US president has decided to delay enforcement of his decision to end the Daca programme. The US Congress will now get six months to come up with an alternative programme, Reuters said.