'We will be shutting the door on an entire generation': In a letter to congress, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford urge protection for undocumented students

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The fate of 800,000 young people hangs in the balance.

• In September, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
• DACA provides temporary protection from deportation to individuals brought to the US as children.
• Hundreds of colleges and universities - including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford - wrote a letter to the US Senate and House of Representatives to protect the roughly 800,000 protected recipients.

Hundreds of colleges and universities - including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford - signed a letter urging members of the US Senate and House of Representatives "pass a long-term legislative fix as soon as possible to protect Dreamers."

The letter, addressed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer, urged them to "take the action that President Trump requested when he rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, and pass a long-term legislative fix as soon as possible to protect Dreamers, outstanding young people brought to our country as children."

DACA provides temporary protection from deportation for some immigrants living in the US illegally who were brought to the country as children.

The colleges said they have seen these "remarkable people up close" and that they have made "incredible contributions to our country and its economy and security."

The letter comes a month after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an action that could affect roughly 800,000 protected recipients.

Shortly after the announcement Harvard President Drew Faust harshly condemned the Trump Administration's decision to end the program.

"This cruel policy recognizes neither justice nor mercy," Faust wrote in an email to community members shared with Business Insider. "In the months to come, we will make every effort to have our voice heard, in the halls of Congress and elsewhere, about the need for the protections of DACA to continue."

You can read the full letter below: