Obama urged to protect immigration in his remaining term

US President Barack Obama speaks as he and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hold a press conference at Maximos Palace in Athens, Greece November 15, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

LOS ANGELES - The Obama Administration should protect those "dreamers," who were brought to the United States illegally but later granted legal temporary status to stay, a US congresswoman said on Tuesday.

The Obama Administration in the remaining term should take legal action to prevent those who enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and Deferred Action for Parents of American and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) programs from being deported, said Judy Chu, the first Chinese American congresswoman.

Chu, who was elected as the US Representative for California's 27th congressional district since 2009 and won her seat in the election early this month, served on the House Judiciary Committee.

People who applied for DACA or DAPA provided "extensive" sensitive information such as finger prints and relatives' home addresses to the government knowing that it will not be used against them, the Democratic congresswoman said in a statement.

California, which had more than 2 million undocumented immigrants, the most in the country, became the battle ground for many state officials over immigration issues.

Data estimated that as of 2016 about 1,932,000 people in the United States are eligible for the DACA program, and about 30 percent of them lived in California.

The Los Angeles Police Department pledged on Monday that it would not participate in deporting undocumented immigrants, nor would it honor government requests to help deport people.