Donald Trump immigration reform news 2017: Deporting criminals will be Trump's priority on immigration, says White House

President Trump will focus his efforts on the enforcement of immigration laws on criminal immigrants residing in the country illegally, although, he might not immediately reverse the Obama Administration's policy that protects young immigrants from deportation, White House said on Monday.

"First and foremost, the President's been very, very clear that we need to direct agencies to focus on those who are in this country illegally and have a record -- a criminal record or poses a threat to the American people," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Monday, according to CNN.

"That's where the priorities going to be and then we're going to continue to work through the entire number of folks that are here illegally," he added.

Spicer also mentioned that the administration will also be focusing on those immigrants who have overstayed beyond the time indicated on their visas.

With the President's assumption of his duties as the country's new leader, those protected from deportation under former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy have been worried that Trump would immediately act on a campaign promise to rescind all of Obama's executive actions, Time reported.

The DACA program was created back in 2012. It allows young immigrants, who were brought into the country as children, to apply for a two-year reprieve from deportation. It also allows them to secure a work permit. Both the reprieve and work permit can be renewed.

At his first press briefing on Monday, White House Spokesman Sean Spicer did not explicitly rule out any future plans by the Trump administration that will rescind or endanger the DACA policy. His comments suggest, however, that Trump's initial policies will be quite similar to Obama's approach.

Under the Obama administration, criminals and those who threatened national security and public safety were the top priorities for immigration enforcement, in accordance with the 2014 memorandum from then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

According to Johnson's DHS exit memo, in the fiscal year of 2016, over 90 percent of the deported illegal immigrants have been convicted of serious crimes.