The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday required Arizona to continue to issue driver's licenses to the so-called Dreamer immigrants and refused to hear the state's challenge to an Obama-era program that protects hundreds of thousands of young adults brought into the country illegally as children.

The case centered on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created in 2012 under Democratic former President Barack Obama that Republican President Donald Trump already has sought to rescind. Those who signed up for DACA are shielded from deportation and given work permits.

The high court refused to hear Republican-governed Arizona's appeal of a lower court ruling that barred the state from denying driver's licenses to people protected under DACA.