WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration is leaving in place a program protecting hundreds of thousands young immigrants from deportation - one that President Donald Trump had pledged to eliminate.



The announcement to continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, was made quietly late Thursday. The decision was noted at the bottom of an administration statement announcing the end of another Obama-era immigration program. That program, protecting the immigrant parents of U.S. citizens, was never implemented.



Despite his campaign pledges to eliminate DACA, Trump had repeatedly expressed empathy with program participants, often referred to as ``dreamers.'' Many arrived in the United States as small children and have little recollection of their birth countries.



The program does not give them residency status, but temporarily protects them from deportation and allows them to work legally.