Alphabet Resistance supports Dreamers

By Diane Hettrick

An informal group calling themselves the Alphabet Resistance held a spontaneous demonstration on the 145th overpass in Shoreline on Tuesday after President Trump announced he was discontinuing DACA, which protects 800,000 young people who were brought to the US illegally as children.

The youth are known as the Dreamers. They were raised as Americans and many have never been to the country of their birth; some do not speak the language. Trump's plan would deport them all.

The Seattle Times noted that,

In a rare bipartisan show of support, Washington’s entire congressional delegation urged a permanent resolution for the 800,000 young immigrants protected under DACA. Others in the political and education realms also vowed action.

Estimates vary, but 18,000 Dreamers are said to be in Washington state. The state universities each have from 200-600 currently enrolled.

Many are in the workforce. Microsoft, for one, is paying legal fees for its Dreamer employees.

Washington state is part of a multi-state legal challenge to the deportation. On Wednesday, Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a multi-state lawsuit co-led by Washington, New York and Massachusetts, seeking to halt President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The president’s decision to end protections for nearly 18,000 so-called “Dreamers” in Washington state, and about 800,000 nationwide, is both unconstitutional and illegal, Ferguson’s lawsuit alleges.