US President Donald Trump is expected to announce that he will axe a programme set up by the Obama administration to protect young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative has given nearly 800,000 young immigrants a reprieve from deportation and the ability to work legally in the form of two-year, renewable work permits.

During his election campaign, Mr Trump criticised DACA as illegal "amnesty" and vowed to eliminate the programme the day he took office.

The White House faces a Tuesday deadline set by Republican state officials threatening to sue the Trump administration if the president did not end the programme.

The timing could barely be worse.

Texas, where a third of a population is Latino, has just been battered by a hurricane and floods.

Jesus Contreras, a paramedic who spent last week rescuing people caught up in the storm, came to the United States aged six from Mexico - and now faces being deported.

Speaking to ITV News, he said: "It's being kicked in the face after being on the ground.

"We've just dealt with the storm and we're about to deal with another one that comes from the president.

"It's such a bad timing, such a bad circumstance. Just a bad time to attack us."

It is believed Mr Trump's dismantling of DACA could be delayed by six months to give Congress time to decide whether it wants to address the status of the so-called Dreamers in legislation.

But it was not immediately clear how the six-month delay would work in practice and what would happen to people who currently have work permits under the programme, or whose permits expire during the six-month stretch.

It also was unclear exactly what would happen if Congress failed to pass a measure by the considered deadline.

There is also the remote possibility that Mr Trump could change his mind altogether.

Since he was elected, the president has wavered on the issue, at one point saying those affected could "rest easy".

In February, he said the topic was "a very, very difficult subject for me, I will tell you, to me, it's one of the most difficult subjects I have.

"You have some absolutely incredible kids - I would say mostly," he said, adding: "I love these kids."

Maria Treviño Rodriguez certainly hopes Mr Trump will change his mind.

Her mother illegally brought her to the US from Mexico when she was just one year-old. If Mr Trump sticks to his campaign pledge, her younger sister will be allowed to stay as she was born in America. But Maria would be forced to return to a country she has no memory of.

"He knows he has power over us and he knows that he can keep us on our toes because he has everything in his control," Maria told ITV News.

"My whole family only knows our lives here in Houston, Texas. Our whole foundation would be in shambles if any one of us left the city that we've all called our home."

The Obama administration created the programme in 2012 as a stopgap to protect some young immigrants from deportation as it pushed unsuccessfully for a broader immigration overhaul in Congress.

DACA protected people in the US illegally who could prove they arrived before they were 16, had been in the country for several years and had not committed a crime while there.

As of July 2015, more than 790,000 young immigrants had been approved under the programme.