JUDY CHU

December 5, 2016

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The Honorable Barack Obama President ofthe United States The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

WASIIINGTON, DC 20515-0527 (202) 225-5464

We write to express our concerns about the potential misuse of the personal information of enrollees in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arriva1s (DACA) program. We urge you to consider taking executive action to prevent DACA enrollees' personal information from being used for purposes other than originally intended, including for the purposes of removal.

When your Administration first introduced the DACA program in 2012, it gave hope to many children of immigrants- commonly referred to as "Dreamers"- who were brought to this country at very young ages. Since the implementation ofDACA, we have been able to see firsthand the profound effect that the program has had on the lives of the children and young adults it protects. Over 740,000 young Dreamers have been issued Social Security numbers and work permits, and many have used the benefits provided under DACA to seek job opportunities openly for the very first time. The DACA program allowed these individuals to enjoy many of the essential benefits, privileges, and responsibilities of American society that they had been denied for so long. Dreamers granted deferred action under DACA were freed from the constant fear of deportation to countries that many of them do not even know and do not call home; they responded by enriching their communities and becoming civically engaged in American life.

As a condition of receiving the guarantees ofDACA, these children and young adults submitted to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) numerous sources of information to verify identity, including fingerprints and other biometric data. They also underwent background checks and provided their home addresses, where family members may a1so reside. Other sensitive information, such as documentation of an arrest or charge of a misdemeanor in the United States or any other country, was also requested of applicants for DACA. ln asking these undocumented youth for extensive personally identifying information, the Administration effectively asked them to place their trust in the government. Now many of those same Dreamers are wondering whether their trust was misplaced, fearing for their future in the United States, and questioning whether they can or should seek protection under DACA.

Countless community advocates, organizers, and public servants have promoted the DACA program to Dreamers on the premise that the information they supply to DHS would not be used

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to deport them in the future. We cannot stand by and allow the Trump Administration to exploit the trust these young Americans placed in us and the government.

We believe that when government makes promises it should keep them. We urge you to do everything within your power to safeguard the personal identifying information ofDACA enrollees, including issuing an Executive Order prohibiting the use of DACA enrollee information for purposes other than originally intended. While this program is a significant part of the Administration's legacy, it is more importantly a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of young Dreamers looking to lead productive and peaceful lives as members of American society.

JudyChu Member of Congress

Sincerely,

~<¥.~ Luis Gutierrez

Member of Congress

~~1~MJkL Lucille Roybal-Allard Member of Congress

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Raul Grijalva Member of Congress

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The Honorable Judy Chu U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative Chu:

December 30, 2016

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Homeland Security

On behalf of the Administration, I write in response to the letter you and J l 0 other members of Congress sent the President on December 5. In your letter, you ask us "to do everything within [our] power to safeguard the personal identifying information of DACA enrollees." We share your concerns.

Today there are 750,000 young people enrolled in DACA who, when they applied for enrollment, relied on the U.S. government's representations about the use of their personal identifying information. Since DACA was announced in2012, DHS has consistently made clear that information provided by applicants will be collected and considered for the primary purpose of adjudicating their DACA requests and would be safeguarded from other immigration-related purposes. More specifically, the U.S. government represented to applicants that the personal infonnation they provided will not later be used for immigration enforcement purposes except where it is independently detennined that a case involves a national security or public safety threat, criminal activity, fraud, or limited other circumstances where issuance of a notice to appear is required by law.

We believe these representations made by the U.S. govermnent, upon which DACA applicants most assuredly relied, must continue to be honored.

For decades, even dating back before DACA, it has been the long-standing and consistent practice of DHS (and its predecessor INS) to use information submitted by people seeking deferred action or other benefits for the limited purpose of adjudicating their requests, and not for immigration enforcement purposes except in the kinds of specified circumstances described above. This was true, for example, under the deferred action policies extended to victims of human trafficking, to foreign students affected by Hurricane Katrina, to battered immigrants under the Violence Against Women Act, and to widows and widowers of American citizens. Accordingly, people who requested to be considered under DACA, like those who requested deferred action in the past, have relied on our consistent practice concerning the information they provide about themselves and others.

The Honorable Judy Chu Page2

The U.S. government's practice of adhering to the assurances it makes to applicants for deferred action is also consistent with the way USCIS (and the INS before it) has long protected information submitted by those seeking other benefits or relief. This includes but is not limited to individuals requesting temporary protected status, deferred enforced departure, or extended voluntary departure. In these circumstances, as with deferred action requests, USC IS and INS have abided by a longstanding and consistent practice of using information to adjudicate specific applications, but not for immigration enforcement purposes absent the limited circumstances described above.

Since DACA began, thousands of Dreamers have been able to enroll in colleges and universities, complete their education, start businesses that help improve our economy, and give back to our communities as teachers, medical professionals, engineers, and entrepreneurs-all on the books. We continue to benefit as a country from the contributions of those young people who have come forward and want nothing more than to contribute to our country and our shared future.

The co-signers of your letter will receive separate, identical responses. Should you wish to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact me.