Nearly 30,000 Washington Immigrants Could Avoid Deportation Under Law

This Wednesday marks the expansion of a federal program for undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children. That means thousands more young immigrants in Washington state could get a break from deportation, as KUOW’s Liz Jones explains.

TRANSCRIPT

Imagine a college reunion, and someone says, "If you have a summer birthday, you can stay. But if you don’t, sorry. You’re not in the club."

That sort of describes some of the arbitrary rules of a federal immigration program known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

It's for undocumented young adults and students whose parents brought them here as children. The program allows them to get a temporary work permit and protection from deportation.

When the Obama administration created DACA two years ago, it came with an age cutoff. You had to be younger than 31 when the program started.

Now new rules eliminate that age cap. And also extend the program to people who’ve only lived here five years. It used to be longer.

With the expansion, nearly 30,000 immigrants in Washington will be eligible for DACA. Of that group, about half have already applied.