The U.S. Department of Homeland Security terminated a program on Wednesday that allowed minors fleeing violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to settle in the United States, ending travel hopes for more than 2,700 children awaiting approval, as reported in Reuters.

The Central American Minors (CAM) Program was established by former President Barack Obama in 2014 in order to offered legal protection to thousands of unaccompanied minors and families from Central America who arrived at the U.S-Mexico border seeking entry into the United States. The CAM offered them protection even if they had been denied refugee status.

In January, just a few days he took office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on border security that triggered a review of the program. Since then, more than 2,700 children had their entrance applications on hold. The majority of the children approved for the program - and that now see their applications cancelled- were from El Salvador.

Immigration NGO Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) said that cancelling the program would lead to more children to try to find other means to enter the United States, as reported in Reuters.