Ferguson launches WA team to help children whose parents are deported

Gov. Bob Ferguson signs an executive order responding to the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, Jan. 27, 2025 in Seattle. (Photo by Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard)

The governor said his administration “will do everything we can possibly do to address those significant harms” tied to President Trump’s immigration policies.

By Jake Goldstein-Streee
Washington State Standard

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson on Monday signed an executive order to create a state team focused on responding to the separation of migrant families as the Trump administration promises mass deportations.

The “Family Separation Rapid Response Team” will be housed in the state Department of Children, Youth and Families. Members will include officials from the governor’s office, the attorney general’s office, the Washington State Patrol and the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance.

Deportation on the scale Trump has described “means ripping families apart. It means kids losing their parents. It means businesses losing their workers. It means communities being significantly altered,” Ferguson said.

“My administration will do everything we can possibly do to address those significant harms that are caused by those policies,” the Democratic governor said.

“That’s making sure that kids who are torn away and separated from their parents have someone to care for them, and they have uninterrupted access to their education.”

The White House knocked Ferguson’s move.

“Radical Leftists can either choose to swim against the tide and reject the overwhelming will of the people, or they can get on board and work with President Trump to advance his wildly popular agenda,” Harrison Fields, a deputy press secretary for Trump, said in an email.

The first meeting of the new state team will be no later than February 14, 2025 but Ferguson expects it to be sooner. The group will provide recommendations to the governor, and is expected to file a report by April 30.

Ferguson signed the order at the Centilia Cultural Center in Seattle, joined by numerous elected officials and advocates.

Tana Senn, a former state lawmaker who took over the Department of Children, Youth and Families under the Ferguson administration, reiterated that children whose parents are deported will have support from the state. These children are often U.S. citizens, while their parents don’t have legal status.

“I just want families to know and to feel rest assured that if that happens, your child will be safe, will be cared for and will be loved here in Washington state,” Senn said.

Trump made the promise of mass deportations a centerpiece of his campaign. One week in, his administration has already initiated an immigration crackdown.