SALT LAKE CITY — Dreamers, elected officials, immigration attorneys, business leaders and others called on Congress Tuesday to pass immigration reforms after the White House announced the rescission of protections for youths and young adults brought to the United States as children by unauthorized immigrant parents.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, formed under executive order by President Barack Obama in 2012, has protected "dreamers" from deportation and enabled them to work legally in the United States.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that the program has been rescinded but there will be a six-month phase out period.

One of the first Utahns to be approved for the protections extended under the program, a young professional who earned a master's degree from a Utah university, spoke on the condition of anonymity: "The decision was not ideal but under the circumstances, it can be the best possible outcome. A lot can be accomplished in six months and the onus is on Congress to act," he said.

The biggest relief, he said, is that people who have work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will be able to continue to work until it expires.

"This is a huge relief for many of us. It doesn't immediately disrupt our life and it gives us time to figure alternate solutions," he said.

While campaigning for president, candidate Donald Trump vowed to end the program the first day of his presidency, denigrating it as illegal "amnesty."

Sessions said Tuesday that the Obama administration initiative was "unconstitutional," remarking that it circumvented federal immigration laws.

Skyler Anderson, a Utah immigration attorney in private practice, said the announcement impacted him "in a very personal way as I have had the great honor to work very closely with hundreds of Utah residents who have benefited from DACA. It saddens me to think about the concerns and fears I know they are experiencing right now."

By definition, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program recipients were brought to the United States as children. They are attending or have completed at least high school and do not have any serious criminal history, Anderson explained.

"These are the people we need in this country. They embraced our American values long ago because, quite frankly, they are the only values they know. Deporting these kids would be the psychological equivalent of sending one of my own U.S. citizen children to live alone in a foreign country. Such a harsh punishment for a decision they had no part in brings me great sadness," Anderson said.

He said he has reached out the Utah's congressional delegation urging them to act immediately.

"I urge others to do the same. We are not just asking our elected officials to just do the compassionate thing, or even the 'right' thing. We are asking them to do the selfish thing. We need these kids. Our country is better because of them. Let's not give them away," Anderson said.

For his part, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called for "balanced" immigration legislation.

“DACA was an illegal abuse of executive power, and it’s important to reaffirm that the president cannot unilaterally rewrite the law. Today’s decision puts the ball in Congress’ court to address the problem of the approximately three (quarters of a) million DACA participants, who originally came to the country as children. A balance between compassion and deterring future illegal immigration can be found," Lee said in a statement.

Related:

Trump rescinding DACA program protecting young immigrants

President Donald Trump on Tuesday began dismantling the government program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children. Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared the Obama administration's program "an unconstitutional exercise of authority" that must be revoked.

Luis Garza, executive director of Comunidades Unidas/Communities United, said Trump, in ending the DACA program, "is once again demonstrating his lack of moral character and complete disregard for humanity and the values that hold us together.”

He urged Utah's congressional delegation "to stand up and do the right thing for Utah families" by supporting the bipartisan Dream Act.

"We specifically ask Sen. Orrin Hatch to sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill. The current administration does not support the future of our state’s youth, but Utahns have always believed in family unity and welcoming immigrants. It is fundamental to our history and identity as a state," Garza said.

Hatch, in a statement released mid-morning, said he called Trump last week and urged him not to rescind DACA "because I believe it puts Dreamers, who were brought here as children through no fault of their own, in an extremely difficult position."

Hatch said he believes "we have a real opportunity for bipartisan solutions and compromise on issues including border security, high-skilled immigration, and a path forward for our Dreamer population."

Lane Beattie, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and former president of the Utah Senate, said the prospect of protections for Dreamers evaporating, if Congress doesn't act within the next six months, left him feeling "heartsick" Tuesday.

Decisions about those protections, Beattie said on KSL NewsRadio's "Doug Wright Show," "affect human beings, our neighbors, our employees, sometimes our bosses — and the reality is that we all are heartsick."

"This puts back on the shoulders of Congress something that has always been on their shoulders. It is their responsibility. They are the ones who can fix it," he said.

Beattie lauded Dreamers as a "group of people who have done exactly what we've asked them to do" under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He also became emotional as he described the desires of undocumented immigrant parents who came to the United States to give a better life to those children who are now called Dreamers.

"If I happen to be a person who is raising grandchildren or children in a country that have some of the concerns they had, I would do everything … in my power to put those kids in America," he said, his voice trembling.

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams called the Tuesday's Trump administration decision disheartening.

"But now that the deportation clock is ticking, I strongly urge Congress to quickly pass a law allowing deferred action for young people who came to the U.S. as children, to continue. The futures of 800,000 young people — including thousands in Utah — hang in the balance," McAdams said in a statement.

"These are youth who are studying, working, serving in the military and contributing to our community. We elected our representatives to come together in a bipartisan way to reform our broken immigration system and making DACA the law of the land is a critical first step."

Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, also expressed trepidation about receding protections for Dreamers. Any punishment of them would be unjust, considering how young they were when they came to the United States, she said.

"Many of these young people, this is the only place they know," Romero said. "This is for many their country and they love their country and they don't have a recollection of where their parents came from."

State Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, laid blame at the feet of the White House and Congress, over a period of decades, for not being able to comprehensively improve the country's immigration system.

"It's been a system where we have said we want those workers, we need those workers, but we're not willing to normalize it in a process where they can come here legally and so they have to come here illegally," Stephenson told the "Doug Wright Show."

Immigration attorney Aaron Tarin said the announcement to rescind the program was "unfortunate, albeit anticipated.

"The focus now shifts to how aggressively the Trump administration will seek to deport prior DACA recipients who came out of the shadows despite having criminal records or prior deportations. DACA may have become a bait and switch for tens of thousands of young people."

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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