US: Migrants fear Trump’s mass deportation plan

US: According to individuals who spoke exclusively to Media, immigrants across, legal and otherwise, are terrified and uneasy about an unknown future as a result of President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to supervise large deportations.

During his first successful presidential campaign, Trump pledged to “build the wall” that would divide the southern border between the United States and Mexico. In the most recent election season, he made bolder pledges, declaring before defeating Democrat Kamala Harris that he will bring about a new “liberation day” when he becomes office in January 2025.

Since January 2021, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has logged an estimated 10 million or more “encounters” at the northern and southern borders, putting President Joe Biden and Harris under intense scrutiny throughout their almost four years in power. Those who entered the country illegally and without detection are not included in it. Mexico has been the country of origin for the majority of immigrants, followed by Guatemala and Venezuela.

According to the Department of Homeland Security’s 2022 report, as of January 1, 2022, there were about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, which is a decrease from 11.6 million in 2010 and an increase from 10.5 million in January 2020.

After Trump’s election, one illegal immigrant told Newsweek that he felt “very paralyzed” and was uncertain whether he would eventually have to return to Nigeria with his mother and two brothers, who came to the United States in 2009.

He described the landslide victory as “like a sense that I had no control over anything,” according to the 23-year-old male. “And a lot of despair because of the stuff he promised and said he was going to do.”

The recent Arizona State University alumnus, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for heightened immigration enforcement, said that Trump’s victory in the popular vote was especially upsetting and effectively affirmed the Republican’s strict immigration stance.

The aspiring filmmaker said he is now getting ready for previously unthinkable scenarios, such as mass deportations involving U.S. military resources, which the president-elect said last week he is considering as part of a national emergency plan. Chandler, Arizona, is where Trump defeated Harris by a margin of 6 percentage points.

“Reading stuff like that, it really hurts,” remarked the man. “Because I’m not sure if I’ll be here in a year.” Or will I be in a detention cell awaiting a trial or anything if I’m even on American soil? What will the next year hold for me? How difficult would it be for my family and me?

According to the Arizona resident, Trump’s return to the White House after campaigning on pledges of the biggest mass deportation program in American history portends a bleak future and unrelenting uncertainty.

His words, “It doesn’t bode well for us,” “Basically, it seems quite grim for our neighborhood. I’ve only begun to consider what I can do and what the next year will hold.

He said, “That’s what it felt like to me,” “I didn’t think it was going to be that much of a decisive win.”

“Now, the young man’s top priority going forward will be to cherish his time in the United States, regardless of his belief that half of the country seems to despise noncitizens and support Trump’s conservative immigration views,” he added.

“Despite how much people vilify people like me on the news and stuff, I still have a love for America,” he said. “I like the idea of accepting everybody, regardless of appearance or origin, and that anyone can be an American.

However, it hasn’t been enjoyable in recent years. I believe I just was unaware of this aspect of America when I first arrived; it is a cruel side that ignores the humanity of those who are essentially Americans as well.

The guy is overcome by the idea of going back to Nigeria, where his family lawfully moved on a U visa that subsequently expired.

“Lately, it’s been on my mind more, thinking about what my next steps are, and how that probably involves being out of the country,” he said to Newsweek. Since I was seven years old, I have spent the most of my life here. All I know is this.

The Federal Reserve will not “load people up on buses.”
Trump’s transition team did not disclose specifics on how the enormous endeavor may proceed, but representatives said the next president will use “every federal and state power necessary” to pursue criminals for deportation.

Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek, “The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail, like deporting migrant criminals and restoring our economic greatness.” “He will deliver.”

According to a research by the nonprofit American Immigration Council in Washington, Trump’s proposal for mass deportation could also split up to 4 million mixed-status families, or U.S. citizens with illegal relatives.

The council predicts that if fully implemented, the future Trump government could target 11 to 14 million individuals and cost the United States upward of $315 billion.

According to CBS News, Biden-era unlawful contacts at the U.S.-Mexico border have just reached a low point during his administration and are predicted to drop below 50,000 apprehensions by the end of November, the lowest level since the COVID-19 epidemic in the summer of 2020.

“In our section of the border, we have undoubtedly seen a decline in activity…. The great majority are male Mexicans. Thaddeus Cleveland, a former border patrol agent and the sheriff of Terrell County, Texas, told Newsweek, “We see a few females and a few juveniles.” “We’ve reduced our speed. Our figures are essentially at their pre-Biden levels of activity.

He ascribed it to increased law enforcement in his region of the state as well as the tendency of migrants to enter via other ports, such as San Diego. Still, nearby counties like Brewster and Val Verde have greater than average populations.

El Paso County announced earlier this week that its Migrant Support Services Center will close at the end of December after utilizing FEMA-approved funds since 2022, which gave the county about $29 million in Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) funds to assist asylum seekers passing through the area.

Even though no local tax money was used for this kind of relief, the county told Newsweek that it is now “taking precautionary measures due to the uncertainty of support and funding under the new administration.”

In response to a question about how he believes the mass deportation would begin, Cleveland says he expects the warnings of police door-to-door visits to be exaggerated and will include a more focused strategy against the most dangerous domestic threats.

“It’s not going to be a big sweeping immigration effort to go through communities and just start loading people up on buses that are here illegally,” he said. “It will be, as we’ve done before, focused and targeted efforts on those that are in our country illegally, those that have criminal records, or those that have been caught by local law enforcement and then released because this this administration’s reluctance to participate in any sort of immigration enforcement.”

He went on to say that part of the larger deportation operation includes catching illegal immigrants who work here or families who are connected to these people but haven’t committed any crimes.

Cleveland said, “We’re going to be busy for the next four years.”

Taking on the unknown

Julie Moreno, 46, and her husband, Neftali Juarez Garcia, 44, of New Jersey, said they are bracing themselves for the worst as they await the outcome of his July 2022 application for a temporary illegal presence waiver, commonly known as an I-601A form.

Juarez Garcia, who entered the United States illegally in 2004, will have to go to Mexico for an interview for an immigrant visa if his application is granted. It is far from certain that the construction worker will return to Newark safely to begin a new life.

“We don’t even have the waiver, which is basically a forgiveness of his unauthorized entry,” Moreno said to Newsweek. “He has absolutely no status, and we have been married for over eight years. One of the main issues is that. Even obtaining parole status after deportation is quite difficult. We are just requesting that we be given the assurance that our husbands will not be deported. And we’re not even able to acquire that.

A federal court chosen by Trump earlier this month invalidated President Joe Biden’s plan to facilitate the naturalization process for some illegal immigrants who are married to citizens of the United States, such as Garcia. About 500,000 wives and stepchildren of residents were able to apply for permanent residence via the “Keeping Families Together” program without having to leave the nation.

Trump’s win, according to Juarez Garcia, has thrown his daily life into a state of uncertainty, with the threat of deportation always there.

He responded, “And unfortunately, they have all of my information,” referring to the picture and fingerprints he sent with his application. “They know where I live; they know what I look like.”

Meanwhile, a DACA recipient in California said that he and his spouse began taking preventative measures as soon as Trump was elected, including talking to lawyers and making arrangements for a potential split.

According to the 31-year-old clinical researcher who asked to remain anonymous, “it immediately brings out a lot of uncertainty and fear,” she told Newsweek. “DACA allowed me to get a job, pay for my education, allowed me to start a career and give back to my community by helping children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.”

But with Trump back in the White House, that “safe and fulfilling” lifestyle—which includes the recent purchase of a new Sacramento home—now seems doubtfully precarious, he added.

“A Trump presidency is putting all of this at risk for me,” he said. “I may lose my work, be cut off from my wife and family, and lose my safeguards against deportation. I really run the danger of losing everything I’ve worked so hard to accumulate over the last 26 years.”

“We are not all criminals.”

In her less than two years in the US, Rosmely Perez has gone through a range of emotions.

The legal immigrant from Venezuela and others like her have found work, housing, and a peaceful life in the Denver, Colorado, area. This area has been under scrutiny for a long time because it is a sanctuary city, spending tens of millions of dollars on resources while receiving the biggest influx of migrants per capita since they started accepting and housing them in December 2022.

Beginning in July 2023, Perez traveled from Venezuela through Peru to the United States with her spouse, two kids, sister, and her sister’s boyfriend.

Because the United States is “a country of opportunities” and the economy in her home country is unstable, Perez told Newsweek via WhatsApp that the group decided to make the trek. The individuals’ journey was prompted by a greater presence of criminal gangs in their home country. They eventually made their way into the United States via Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican city on the Rio Grande just south of El Paso, Texas.

Perez is now concerned about what the second Trump administration may bring for her and her family after they have been settled for more than a year and are working with neighbors and local authorities to claim their share of the American experience. Despite having asylum, they are still waiting on federal work permits.

Perez stated, “Now that Trump won, we don’t know what will happen,” according to a translation from Google. He has attacked immigrants on multiple occasions, and I am aware that he closes the doors on us in order to deport us, so my family and I are concerned. The arrival of Trump will have an impact on the immigration process for many families.

“Not all of the families here are criminals, but I support them in getting the criminals out. We fear that they will deport a large number of migrants.

Perez’s parents are still in Venezuela, but they are unable to support her and her family due to their low income.

Perez has found it difficult to respond to her daughter’s persistent inquiries about the family’s future.

“I would not know what to do if I were deported,” she stated. “I have nothing in Venezuela, not even a companion. I don’t like the actions of the new president. He is racist and a heartless person.

“We don’t have any plans [but to] simply leave everything in the hands of God and face whatever has to happen.”