President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed he would strike a deal with Democratic lawmakers to ensure that roughly 700,000 undocumented young people are allowed to remain in the U.S. — as long as the Supreme Court overturns the Obama-era initiative that provided those immigrants work authorization and deportation relief.

The president’s pledge comes as the high court begins hearing oral arguments Tuesday over Trump’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which former President Barack Obama’s administration established in 2012 to grant protections to so-called “Dreamers” brought to the country as children.


“Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from ‘angels.’ Some are very tough, hardened criminals,” Trump tweeted. “President Obama said he had no legal right to sign order, but would anyway. If Supreme Court remedies with overturn, a deal will be made with Dems for them to stay!”