WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he hopes a legal battle over an Obama-era program shielding young immigrants from deportation goes to the Supreme Court.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday decided to keep in place an injunction blocking Trump's decision to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

Lawsuits by California and others challenging the Trump administration's decision will continue in federal court while the injunction remains in place.

DACA has protected 700,000 people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children or came with families that overstayed visas.

The Trump administration has said it moved last year to end DACA because Texas and other states threatened to sue, raising the prospect of a chaotic end to the program.

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