Daca: Trump 'fairly close' to deal with Democrats on Dreamers
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US President Donald Trump has said he is "fairly close" to a deal with top Democrats to protect young undocumented migrants known as Dreamers.
Mr Trump told journalists at the White House that the agreement would include "massive border security".
The president said funding for his planned border wall was not part of the pact.
Mr Trump spoke a day after talks with top Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer at the White House.
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Hardline conservatives are enraged.
Only last week Mr Trump stunned fellow Republicans by making a budget deal with the Democrats.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme allows some 800,000 people to remain in the US, and provides temporary permits for work and study.
The Obama-era scheme was put in place to protect so-called "Dreamers" - migrants who entered the US illegally as children - from deportation.
Only last week Mr Trump announced he would cancel the programme.
He said he was giving Congress six months to enact a replacement plan for Daca recipients.
Leaving the White House on Thursday morning bound for Florida to see the damage from Hurricane Irma, Mr Trump told journalists: "We're working on a plan subject to getting massive border control, we are working on a plan for Daca. People want to see that happen.
He added: "So we met last night with, as you know, with Schumer, Pelosi and a whole group and I think we're fairly close but we have to get massive border security."
The president said the congressional Republican leadership were "on board" with the plan.
"The wall is going to be built," he added. "It will be funded a little bit later."
Mr Trump said his administration was currently renovating large sections of the existing border wall and picking samples for the additional structure he proposes.
Earlier on Thursday, the president sent mixed messages as he insisted there was no deal with Democrats.
He also voiced support for Dreamers in a tone that echoed former President Barack Obama.
"Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!" Trump tweeted.
The president's acknowledgement that funding for the wall would not be part of this deal contradicted his own press secretary.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted on Wednesday night: "While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to."
Democrats have repeatedly said that they will block any legislation that contains funding for the border wall - a key campaign pledge of Mr Trump's.
Following talks over dinner at the White House, House Minority Leader Ms Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mr Schumer said: "We agreed to enshrine the protections of Daca into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides."
Mr Trump's right-wing supporters are infuriated.
Congressman Steve King of Iowa tweeted at the president that, if the reports were true, "Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible."
One of Mr Trump's most fervent supporters, Ann Coulter, tweeted: "At this point, who DOESN'T want Trump impeached?"
Breitbart, the website run by Mr Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon, ran the headline, "Amnesty Don" and accused the president of "a full-fledged cave".
Pro-Trump Fox News host Sean Hannity appeared dismayed, tweeting that "weak Republicans have betrayed voters" and pushed Mr Trump "into arms of political suicide".
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