Arizona universities ask Trump to protect immigrant students

The board that oversees Arizona’s three state universities has voted to urge president-elect Donald Trump to protect students who were illegally brought into the county when they were children.

The Board of Regents voted unanimously Friday to send a letter to Trump applauding his efforts to boost border security but saying that he should work with Congress to protect the students. The board rejected any effort to designate the universities as “sanctuary campuses.”

Trump campaigned on ending President Barack Obama’s immigration actions, including the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program known as DACA. That program has given work permits and relief from deportation to more than 700,000 young immigrants, about 27,000 in Arizona.

The three universities currently have 240 DACA students but many more are likely in coming years.

– This story has been corrected to reflect the number of DACA approvals in Arizona is about 27,000, not 53,000

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.