"The take away for me is if the court rules in the president's favor, we're not going to allow these folks to have their lives turned upside down, but we will try to put together a package that protects the DACA population," Graham said, adding the package will also address "how the system is so broken."

Trump has tried for years to use protections for Dreamers to try to strike an immigration deal with Democrats in exchange for his more hardline immigration priorities but all his attempts have failed.

Several other Republicans attended the meeting, including Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Martha McSally of Arizona, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and David Perdue of Georgia.

Most of the senators are considered hardliners who have opposed such efforts in the past. Perdue has been pushing the White House to expand the number of temporary foreign workers in the United States.

Graham, who has long pushed for a massive rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws, presented Trump with a series of proposals, including those that would protect all immigrants eligible for DACA — a greater number than the 700,000-plus who had been enrolled in the program. But Trump was more in line with Hawley, Cruz and Cotton, who pushed for him to wait until after the Supreme Court ruled, likely in June, five months before Election Day, when the appetite for a bipartisan plan may not be particularly strong.

The White House has been in quiet talks with lawmakers on immigration for months, even as Trump continues to campaign on reducing the number of immigrants in the United States illegally.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, has been pushing a 600-page bill that would grant permanent status to more high-skilled, well-educated immigrants, while reducing the number of immigrants who enter the U.S. based on family ties. Trump unveiled the contours of that proposal in May but has not won much support for the offer.

In recent months, the administration has also been in talks with senators about legislation that would create new categories of temporary worker visas or lengthen the allotted stays for those workers. The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday it would allow an additional 35,000 seasonal workers into the country through the H-2B visa program.

Kushner and Stephen Miller, senior policy adviser who has generally plays an outsized role on immigration but was not heavily involved in Kushner's overtures to Capitol Hill, also attended the meeting.

During the 2016 election, Trump vowed to end the DACA program. In 2017, he tried to make good on his promise, but two federal courts ordered him to keep it in place until the Supreme Court weighed in, which is likely to occur this summer.

Trump tried to strike an ambitious deal with Democrats that would have protected Dreamers in exchange for his immigration priorities, such as money for a southern border wall . But that effort quickly died in Congress amid a backlash from immigration hawks, who blasted it for protecting immigrants in the United States illegally.

Immigrant advocates say the administration is not sincere in its efforts to provide permanent legal status for Dreamers.

“President Trump should extend permission permanently for all Dreamers to work and live in the U.S.," said Kerri Talbot, director of federal advocacy for the Immigration Hub. "Democrats are not going to let Dreamers be held hostage by this administration and give into ridiculous demands."

Groups seeking to reduce overall migration worry that any deal Trump makes to protect Dreamers would mean going against his own promise to reduce overall immigration.

“In response to a potential Supreme Court decision on DACA, we expect Republican lawmakers to give President Trump political advice consistent with what got him elected in 2016,” said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which wants to cut the number of immigrants in the country. “A decision ending DACA is not an ‘emergency’ that needs to be exploited to advance Senator Graham’s amnesty agenda.”

The White House acknowledged the meeting but did not respond further.