White House counselor Kellyanne Conway Wednesday did not specify what President Donald Trump would do if he ends up revisiting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in six months, but echoed his call for Congress to act.
"What President Trump means is that if Congress fails to act as they have for the last seven months on this issue, and now they get an additional six, that's a total of more than one year to take up DACA as they wish, then perhaps he will revisit it," Conway told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "He will look at that at the time."
The Constitution does not support DACA, she continued, and even former President Barack Obama, when enacting it through an executive memorandum, did not intend for it to be a permanent measure.
"He certainly went outside of the usual authorities to establish the program," said Conway. "He didn't bother to take it up when he had 60 Democratic senators early in his administration."
She said she hopes that members of Congress who feel strongly about the program will take action.
"If others who run in front of the TV cameras constantly and don't bring their concerns and their pieces of legislation to this White House for the president to sign or reject, then he perhaps will revisit it," said Conway. "He made that commitment."
Trump's comment about revisiting the issue also does not mean he plans to change his mind, said Conway.
"The suggestion is that he will revisit any type of issue that requires additional presidential action," she said, "but he made very clear yesterday through his attorney general and through his own statement from the White House that the DACA program is unconstitutional and that his hand was forced in two ways."
Attorneys generals from 10 states were planning to file action against DACA, said Conway, and Trump had Attorney General Jeff Sessions examine it, along with the departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
"They looked at the words of President [Barack] Obama himself who said the executive [branch] should not make an end run around Congress," said Conway. "Congress passes immigration laws here."
Trump considers action on DACA just one piece of a larger immigration reform plan, Conway noted.
"He has already taken action on sanctuary cities, on Kate's law in memory of Kate [Steinle] who was gunned down by an illegal alien who had been deported many times and convicted of felonies, and e-verify," said Conway.
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