'Dreamer' on Rhodes Scholarship fears he can't return to the US due to Trump policies

Dreamer Jin Park may not be able to undertake his Rhodes Scholarship because of the Trump administration.

Jin Park at Harvard University. Source: The Harvard Crimson

The first "Dreamer" to win a Rhodes Scholarship fears he won't be able to return to the US if he embarks on his studies in the UK.

Recent Harvard University graduate Jin Park is set to study at the University of Oxford in England but President Donald Trump's hostility to Dreamers may prevent him from attending.

Park, 22, was born in South Korea before moving to the US at the age of seven with his parents.

He is protected under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which shields young people who were brought to US illegally as children from deportation.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House. Source: Getty

Under the program, individuals are allowed to travel abroad in some circumstances, including study, and return to the US.

Mr Trump moved to phase out DACA in 2017 and a prolonged legal battle to keep in in place is underway.

As a result, the fate of the so-called Dreamers remains in legal limbo.

"If I leave, there's a very real possibility that I won't be able to come back. That's the biggest fear for sure," Park told the Associated Press.

"I haven't really thought about what that's going to mean if I'm not allowed back."

Young people apply for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2015. Source: Getty

There are an estimated 700,000 people currently on DACA. To qualify, they must have entered the country by 2007 and been under age 16 when they arrived in the US.

Those on DACA are nicknamed Dreamers after the DREAM Act, a never-passed bill which would have created a pathway to legal status for undocumented minors.