Politicians and organizations in Philadelphia are raising money to help pay for applications for a soon-to be-ended program that allows young immigrants without legal status to remain in the country.

Officials on Monday announced the launch of The Dreamers Initiative, a fundraising effort to cover the $495 fee needed to renew an application to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program.

President Donald Trump's administration last week announced plans to end the program. The initiative says the program will end in March 2018 but people with permits that will expire before then can apply by Oct. 5 for a two-year renewal.

"We ... strongly urge Congress to reevaluate the DACA protections, craft legislation that supports those protections, and last but most assuredly not least, protect the lives of all Dreamers," the Philadelphia Youth Commission said in a statement.



DACA protects about 800,000 people who were brought to the United States illegally as children or who came with families who overstayed visas.