WASHINGTON – The contributions of young, undocumented immigrants in the battle against the novel coronavirus will become part of the Supreme Court record in time for the justices' upcoming decision on their fate.

The high court agreed Monday to consider a new filing from a legal services organization at Yale Law School, as well as the National Immigration Law Center, that argues the Trump administration's decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Admissions (DACA) program should be blocked in light of the pandemic.

"Health care providers on the front lines of our nation’s fight against COVID-19 rely significantly upon DACA recipients to perform essential work," the group wrote in a letter to the court late last month. "Termination of DACA during this national emergency would be catastrophic."

The effort took on political overtones days later when Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, warned that such a decision "will leave a gaping hole in our health care system that is liable to cost American lives."

About 27,000 DACA recipients work in the health care field, out of nearly 700,000 brought to the USA without legal papers as children. They rely on the program for temporary protection from deportation and work authorization.

USA TODAY spoke with DACA recipients working as nurses and paramedics last month in California, Florida, Texas and in the suburbs of New York City, where the coronavirus has hit hardest. Some faced a shortage of personal protective equipment, often wearing the same masks for an entire hospital shift. Others were well-supplied but nervous nonetheless.

More:Undocumented immigrants working on pandemic's front lines fear for health and home

President Barack Obama created the program in 2012 after failing to get a more ambitious plan through Congress. Four years later, federal courts shot down his effort to extend similar protections to more than 4 million undocumented adults.

The Trump administration was prodded into curtailing the program when Texas threatened a lawsuit. Federal courts from California to New York stepped in, leaving the program in place and setting up the Supreme Court showdown.

During oral argument in November, the court's conservative majority appeared likely to side with the administration. If the justices simply refuse to overrule the Department of Homeland Security's decision, a new president just as easily could renew the program. If they declare the entire program unlawful, Congress would have to enact legislation to replace it.

In legal papers submitted last October, the Association of American Medical Colleges cited federal warnings about "the risk of a pandemic" as a reason to keep DACA recipients contributing to a "robust health workforce."

"Infectious diseases can spread around the globe in a matter of days due to increased urbanization and international travel," the group warned. "These conditions pose a threat to America’s health security – its preparedness for and ability to withstand incidents with public-health consequences."