Editor’s Note: This story was first published in September and has been updated.
Will hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants lose protection from deportation?
That decision is up to Congress, the Trump administration says.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in September that the administration was rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Pulling the plug on DACA overturns President Barack Obama’s signature immigration policy and could upend the lives of more than 700,000 people.
But the Trump administration gave Congress a window to act before any currently protected individuals lose their ability to work, study and live without fear in the US.
Here’s a look at some key questions about the program and its future:
Who’s been protected by DACA?
These are undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, a group often described as Dreamers.
About 690,000 young adults are currently protected under the DACA program and officials are processing more than 34,000 additional first-time applications, according to the latest government figures.
To be eligible, applicants had to have arrived in the US before age 16 and have lived there since June 15, 2007. They could not have been older than 30 when the Department of Homeland Security enacted the policy in 2012.