President Donald Trump isn't going to come to the rescue of DACA recipients when their paperwork begins to expire next month, his top lieutenant said Tuesday.

Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol that unless lawmakers cement the program with legislation by a March 5 deadline, Dreamers will begin to lose their legal protection and work permits.

Some 690,000 illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors are currently recognized as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protectees, Kelly said. The administration is offering to cover the entire 1.8 million population of Dreamers.

The difference in the numbers are 'the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their a**es, but they didn’t sign up,' Kelly said Tuesday.

President Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol that unless lawmakers cement the program with legislation by a March 5 deadline, Dreamers will begin to lose their legal protection and work permits

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders attempted to play clean up shortly after during her daily briefing.

'The position of the White House is that we want to fix a problem that was created by the previous administration. We have a system that is not lawful we have a system that has a lot of legal loopholes, and has a very large national security concern,' she said.

Sanders tried to take the spotlight off Kelly's 'lazy' Dreamers gaffe and put it on Democratic lawmakers rejecting the president's immigration compromise.

'Frankly I think if anyone's lazy, it's Democrats who aren't showing up to work, and aren't actually getting to the table to make a deal on this,' she said.

President Trump's Department of Justice ruled DACA unconstitutional in September. It gave Congress a six-month grace period to act before the program formally began to wind down.

Kelly said Tuesday, 'I doubt very much' that Trump would intervene to save the program, and he is 'not so sure this president has the authority to extend it.'

The Trump chief of staff and former Department of Homeland Security chief told reporters he would not recommend a short-term extension of DACA to the president.

'What makes them act is pressure,' he said of Members of Congress, according to the Washington Post.

Two weeks ago Trump said that DACA participants should 'not to be concerned.'

'Tell them not to worry about it. We're going to solve the problem. Now, it's up to the Democrats, but they should not be concerned,' President Trump told reporters just before he departed for Davos.

Trump's offer to provide a pathway to citizenship to 1.8 million illegal immigrants goes hand-in-hand with the $25 billion request he put into Congress for border security and his wall. He also asked Congress to end the diversity visa lottery and put strict new rules on chain migration.

Kelly said that Trump had been 'generous' with the framework that Democrats have rejected on its face.

'If before the champions of DACA were members on one side of the aisle, I would say right now the champion of all people who are DACA is Donald Trump — but you would never write that,' he stated.

Trump's plot to allow 1.8 million Dreamers to stay in the U.S. permanently goes further than what Barack Obama offered through DACA.

'There are 690,000 official DACA registrants and the president sent over what amounts to be two and a half times that number, to 1.8 million,' Kelly said, according to the Post. 'The difference between [690,000] and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn’t sign up.'

Chiming into the conversation on Tuesday morning, President Trump said, 'Polling shows nearly 7 in 10 Americans support an immigration reform package that includes DACA, fully secures the border, ends chain migration & cancels the visa lottery.

'If D’s oppose this deal, they aren’t serious about DACA-they just want open borders,' he accused.

In another tweet, Trump said, 'We need a 21st century MERIT-BASED immigration system. Chain migration and the visa lottery are outdated programs that hurt our economic and national security.'

Yesterday, Sens. John McCain and Chris Coons released a bipartisan plan they see as a starting point for a floor debate that would give Dreamers a pathway to citizenship while border security and illegal immigration practices are being studied.

The bill does not have the provisions on chain migration and the diversity visa lottery that Trump says have to be included in immigration reform legislation for him to sign it.

An unnamed White House official told CNN that the McCain-Coons bill is the worst piece of immigration legislation that's been proposed so far.

Making himself clear on Monday, President Trump also said, 'Any deal on DACA that does not include STRONG border security and the desperately needed WALL is a total waste of time. March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Dems seem not to care about DACA. Make a deal!'

President Trump has offered to provide a pathway to citizenship to 1.8 million Dreamers - but only if Congrss approves his $25 billion request for border security and his wall. He also asked Congress to end the diversity visa lottery and put strict new rules on chain migration

President Trump umped the ante on Tuesday afternoon during a roundtable at the White House with immigration officials and GOP legislators.

'Let's have a shutdown. We'll do a shutdown and it's worth it for our country. I'd love to see a shutdown if we don't get this stuff taken care of,' Trump said.

After the meeting, Trump reiterated his position when asked about the needling by a reporter.

'I would shut it down over this issue. I can't speak for everybody at the table but I will tell you, I would shut it down over this issue. If we don't straighten out our border, we don't have a country. Without borders we don't have a country,' he said. 'I would shut it down over this issue? Yes. I can't speak for our great representatives here but I have a feeling they may agree with me.'

Sanders said Trump does not actually want a shutdown at a press conference immediately after.

'The president isn't looking for this, but if the Democratic Party is going to continue to threaten a shutdown because they won't include responsible immigration reforms, including fixing MS-13 loopholes and other issues,'Sanders said. 'Then the president welcomes that fight.'