WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump is ordering a comprehensive legal review of the immigration program that allows undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children to remain, and will consider winding down the policy after a Supreme Court decision left the door open to its cancellation, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.
Trump plans to "limit the scope" of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, while that review is underway, the official said.
The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's argument for the dismantlement of the program, which has shielded roughly 700,000 immigrants brought to the United States as children, known as "Dreamers," from deportation.
But, despite the 5-4 ruling, the majority of justices agreed that the president is empowered to end the program on his own with more legally sound justifications.
"When the administration next acts on DACA, it will be on the basis of this comprehensive review of the substantive legal and legal policy justifications offered for winding down the program," the senior administration official said.
Until that time, the official said, "all initial requests and application fees submitted for new filings will be rejected without prejudice should the DACA policy be retained following the administration's review."
Renewal applications for deportation protections will still be considered, but only one-year renewals will be provided, rather than the existing two-year renewals, for eligible applicants. And all applications for advanced parole, allowing applicants to travel to and from the United States with immigration applications pending, will be rejected "absent extraordinary circumstances," the official added.
"These actions will limit the scope of the program while (the Department of Homeland Security) and the administration review its legality, justifications for a possible wind-down, and other considerations relevant whether to keep or wind down the DACA policy," the official said.
The official declined to provide a specific timeline for the review, but said a comprehensive assessment of the program will "take time."
The presumptive Democratic nominee for president, former Vice President Joe Biden, has vowed to make the DACA program permanent "on Day One" should he win the White House in November.
