Lower courts ordered that the program — which protects immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children but have now spent more than a decade in this country — remain in place. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Legal Supreme Court appears to rebuff Trump's push for quick DACA hearing

The federal program granting quasi-legal status and work permits to so-called Dreamers is likely to remain in effect through most of this year, after the Supreme Court appeared to rebuff President Donald Trump’s bid for quick action to resolve lawsuits over his attempt to wind down the program.

Trump, who repealed the Obama-era program last year, has said he wanted the high court to take up the case and rule that he had the authority to do away with it. The program has become an issue in the ongoing government shutdown, with Trump on Saturday offering protection from deportation for three years to approximately 700,000 people brought to the country illegally as children.


Justice Department lawyers had asked the justices to accept several cases over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and add them to the court’s calendar for argument in April, meaning a ruling could be issued by June. However, orders from the high court Tuesday morning made no mention of the DACA disputes.

Typically, cases accepted by the court after mid-January are not argued until the fall, although the justices can accelerate cases if they wish.

Trump has indicated that he was expecting a ruling from the Supreme Court on the issue soon.

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While Trump initially said he wanted the Supreme Court to resolve the issue before making any sort of deal on it with Democrats, Vice President Mike Pence told reporters on Saturday that Trump had a change of heart after hearing from rank-and-file Democrats that protecting DACA recipients was a matter of utmost importance to them.

“The president indicated earlier this year that he wanted to deal with the Dreamers, that he wanted to solve the problem,” Pence said. The president has been “listening to leaders and rank and file of both political parties.”

Lower court judges found that the Trump administration’s attempt to end the program was likely unlawful. They ordered that the program remain in place.

Trump has claimed that those court decisions led Democrats to lose interest in making a deal with him to pass legislation to provide more robust legal status to DACA recipients.