- The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it will reject new applications to
DACA , a federal program that protects young immigrants from deportation. - The Department of
Homeland Security will also limit protections for current recipients to one year, opposed to the usual two years. - Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said the agency is reviewing "the future" of the policy.
- The move comes after the Supreme Court last month blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end the Obama-era program.
The Trump administration announced that the Department of Homeland Security will reject any new applications to the DACA program going forward on Tuesday.
The agency plans to "take action to thoughtfully consider the future of the DACA policy, including whether to fully rescind the program," acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said Tuesday.
In addition to the review and rejection of new applications, current DACA enrollees, who are known as "Dreamers," will have their protections limited to one year, opposed to the two-year period typically granted to them.
The "fact remains that Congress should act on this matter," Wolf said. "There are important policy reasons that may warrant the full rescission of the DACA policy."
The decision is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to block the Obama-era policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The law was established in 2012 and currently shields roughly 700,000 people who came here as children from the threat of deportation.
The move is a response to last month's Supreme Court 5-4 ruling to uphold the program, delivering a major blow to President Donald Trump after he ordered the policy to end in September 2017.
A senior administration official told NBC News that the White House views the program as illegal, despite the court's ruling, and intends to "limit the scope" of DACA while it conducts its own, pre-determined legal review.
The announcement has triggered outcry from immigrant advocates.
"Trump's announcement today lays the groundwork to kill the DACA program and confirms what we have long said: DACA is on the ballot in November," Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement. "We encourage young immigrants currently on DACA to renew, but we should be clear: Trump has simply reminded every immigrant family in America what is at stake in this election."
—Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) July 28, 2020
—National Immigration Law Center (@NILC) July 28, 2020