WASHINGTON - The conservative majority on the Supreme Court appeared sympathetic on Tuesday to US President Donald Trump's decision to end a program which protected nearly 700,000 young immigrants known as "Dreamers" from deportation.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program, was created by former president Barack Obama and allows young undocumented immigrants brought to the country illegally as children -- nicknamed "Dreamers" -- to stay and work in the United States.

Trump, who takes a hardline stance on immigration, announced in September 2017 that he would terminate the DACA program, and it expired last year after Congress failed to come up with a replacement.

Challenges to the phase-out of the program, which enjoys bipartisan support, eventually ended up before the nine justices on the nation's top court.

A ruling is not expected until next year, when the US presidential election campaign -- in which immigration is likely to be a hot-button theme -- will be at its height.

Trump weighed in on Tuesday as the court heard arguments, claiming that "many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from 'angels.' Some are very tough, hardened criminals."

DACA applicants are not eligible if they have a criminal record.

Trump also left the door open, however, to an agreement with Democrats in Congress if the Supreme Court -- where conservative justices hold a five to four majority -- scraps the program.

"If Supreme Court remedies with overturn, a deal will be made with Dems for them to stay!" he said.

The conservative justices on the Supreme Court appeared to side on Tuesday with the Trump administration's arguments for ending DACA, while the liberal justices appeared skeptical.

Trump-appointed justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch led an intense grilling of Theodore Olson, an attorney representing the "Dreamers," on whether he believes the administration has the authority to terminate the DACA program.

Liberal justices on the bench questioned why the administration was taking the action in the first place.

"I have always had some difficulty in understanding the illegality of DACA," said Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the liberal members of the court.

"I've always had some difficulty in understanding what's wrong with an agency saying, we're going to prioritize our removals," Sotomayor said.

"And for those people, like the DACA people who haven't committed crimes, who are lawfully employed, who are paying taxes, who pose no threat to our security... we're not going to exercise our limited resources to try to get rid of those people," she said.

Another liberal justice, Stephen Breyer, listed the vast number of groups supporting the "Dreamers" -- health care organizations, labor unions, educational associations, military organizations and others. -AFP

By Charlotte PLANTIVE