Mr. Trump’s pledges are chilling for the immigrants because when they signed up to the program, they provided identity information — including the names of their parents, home addresses, utility bills, and school transcripts — to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The authorities deferred any action to deport them and gave them two-year renewable work permits, but no official immigration status.
Administration officials said the citizenship agency could be asked to turn over that information to Homeland Security enforcement agents, who could track down the immigrants to deport them or their parents.
Mr. Trump could also take a less harsh approach by allowing existing work permits to lapse and not approving new ones, but not initiating deportations.
Advocacy groups have been inundated with calls from people afraid or despondent.
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