Immigration activists protest the Trump administration´s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on September 6, 2017 in Newark, New Jersey - AFP 

WASHINGTON: More than 2,800 Pakistanis and over 5,500 Indians will be affected by the repeal of an immigration programme that protected undocumented aliens, who were brought to the US as children, from deportation. 

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme that US President Donald Trump said he would repeal was introduced by former US President Barack Obama in 2012 to protect children of undocumented immigrants from deportation.

The programme benefitted nearly 800,000 people who were able to stay and obtain permits to work in the United States. While the vast majority of such undocumented children registered under DACA are from Mexico and Latin American countries, a report in the Forbes magazine said thousands of Asian-Americans were also among the ?Dreamers? ? a term coined to define children brought in as illegal immigrants.

?Currently, around 30,000 Asian-Americans, comprising over 5,500 Indians and over 2,800 Pakistanis have received DACA,? the report said, adding that India was in the top 10 countries for undocumented immigrants who meet DACA eligibility criteria.