Obama-protected immigrants could lose out under Trump

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Thousands of young immigrants, protected from deportation by President Obama, could lose that protection if President Trump follows through on campaign promises.

President Donald Trump so far hasn’t let down those who hoped he would act swiftly on immigration.

Before the end of his first full week in office, he had signed an order temporarily halting entry of nationals from seven predominantly Muslim nations, as well as refugees worldwide.

But in the flurry of that and other orders handed down by Trump, another set of immigrants — protected from deportation by President Barack Obama — has gotten little attention.

Microsoft has made a formal plea to President Donald Trump’s administration to offer an exception for a temporary hold on immigration.

Roughly 750,000 immigrants nationwide (more than 17,000 in Washington) are protected by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that allows those who were brought here illegally as children — commonly known as Dreamers — to stay and obtain work permits.

Following through on harsh campaign rhetoric critical of the program, Trump and congressional leaders have said a plan is in the works to update the program. What that update might be remains unclear, but an end to the program is a real possibility, even as Trump has indicated that may not mean immediate deportation.

“For now, we’re in a wait and see mode in order to be able to better advise the thousands of individuals who are hanging on by a thread to this program,” said Matt Adams, legal director for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

Trump recently told ABC News that Dreamers “shouldn’t be very worried,” but those who signed up for DACA willingly gave their personal information to the federal government and they’re starting to worry anyway.

Obama may have promised not to use the information for anything other than work permits and Social Security, but Trump has already proved he doesn’t play by the previous administration’s rules.

“It’s hard to say that I’m not fearful of the (possible) changes,” said Dulce Siguenza, a grants and administrative associate with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project who has been a DACA protectee since she graduated high school in 2012. “I don’t want to lose hope, but it’s hard to say I’m not scared of the information being used for something bad, such as deporting all of us, or using it to put us in removal proceedings.”

Since DACA is a program created through executive order, it’s entirely within Trump’s authority to end it. But doing so would put all of the people who are now federally registered for work permits under DACA at risk of deportation and, without some other solution, leave them without the ability to work legally.

To try and counter any moves on DACA, three U.S. House members from Washington — two of them Republicans — have joined other lawmakers on a bill that would give Dreamers three years of protection from deportation while Congress figures out a long-awaited overhaul to immigration laws.

The bill, called the Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy Act (BRIDGE) would allow anyone who met the criteria for DACA to remain in the U.S. for three years and give them protection from deportation while their application for protected status is pending.

Decmocratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Republican Reps. Dan Newhouse and Dave Reichert joined co-sponsors from three other states after the bill was reintroduced in January, but even with bipartisan support, advocates like Northwest Immigrant Rights Project’s Adams aren’t holding out much hope.

“At this point, I don’t think you can put much confidence in any of these individual proposals going forward,” Adams said. A comprehensive proposal on immigration reform would have better odds, he added.

For now, the future of Dreamers is unclear at best. But that’s likely to get a lot more clear once Trump rolls out an order or some other policy, something he’s promised within a month.

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