Immigrants, their employers and groups that work with them are already taking action ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, in which he has promised to deport millions of people.
Some fear how the new administration could impact their families, while others are hopeful the plans — if they materialize — will make things better.
Trump allies are discussing deportation and detention options, with tackling the US-Mexico border seen as a priority from Day 1. And removing undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes is likely to be an early focus, a source familiar with the team’s preliminary plans told CNN.
But advocates fear deportation plans will soon reach deeper into American communities, targeting people who they say have a right to live here.
The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States, is securing money and lawyers to fight what it is already calling potential “vicious, malevolent, cruel and ruthless” immigration policies.
“Make no mistake: Mass deportations will harm the millions targeted by Donald Trump, the families and communities they are part of — and every person in our country. They will rip parents from their children, destroy businesses and livelihoods, and devastate the fabric of our nation and our economy,” said Juan Proaño, CEO of LULAC.
A lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union says its planning for legal challenges is already well advanced.
“We have been preparing for a second Trump term for nearly a year, with a focus on the most draconian possible policies, including the threat to use the military for deportation, which is flatly illegal,” said Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney who argued many of the most high-profile cases during Trump’s first term.
The National Immigrant Justice Center said its lawyers were ready, too.
“We will continue our work of providing critical legal representation to immigrants and refugees, fighting to keep families together, defending access to asylum, and advocating for the end of arbitrary detention and unjust deportation,” Mary Meg McCarthy, the center’s executive director, said in a statement.
‘What happens now?’
Cesar Espinosa, a leader in Houston’s Hispanic community, said he’s had many calls and messages from worried people since Trump won reelection early Wednesday.
“We can feel the sense of uncertainty from a lot of people. A lot of people are asking, ‘What happens now? What do we do?’” he said.
Some are in so-called mixed status families made up of US citizens and undocumented immigrants. And the fear is that non citizens will be targeted immediately, said Espinosa, who is a legal permanent resident, or “green card” holder.
He says he tries to calm fears by saying that mass deportations, particularly of non-criminals, will take time. Meanwhile, he keeps count of the time when he can apply for US naturalization, still more than two years away.
Espinosa said machismo among Latino men may have contributed to support for Trump.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people in the Latino community have bought into the rhetoric of being anti-immigrant, even the immigrants themselves,” he said.
Jorge Rivas’ support for Trump is obvious. He features a MAGA burger on the menu at Sammy’s Mexican Grill, in Catalina, Arizona, north of Tucson, the restaurant he runs with his wife, Betty.
Rivas, born in El Salvador, was granted asylum at age 17, he says, and sees little connection between his life as an immigrant and those at the top of Trump’s potential deportation list.
“If they let in hundreds or thousands of people who already have criminal records, if deporting them creates a mass deportation, I’m all for it,” he said.
He does not think the action will extend to law-abiding workers.
“That wouldn’t be fair,” he said. “They need to make sure that they don’t throw away, they don’t kick out, they don’t deport people that are family oriented.”
Advocates mobilize
In California, where farmers are reliant on migrant labor, there is a renewed call for immigration reform to allow people into the US for temporary agricultural work. There are also calls for legal status for the current workforce.
“We must focus on easing the chronic employee shortages on California farms and ranches and reducing the barriers to employment,” California Farm Bureau President Shannon Douglass said in a statement to CNN.
In the urban heart of New York City, where thousands of migrants and asylum seekers have stretched local resources, some houses of worship are preparing to shift their missions.
“The faith community has been mobilized for more than two and a half years in kind of an emergency capacity,” said the Rev. Chloe Breyer, executive director of the Interfaith Center of New York, a religiously diverse non-profit agency. “The challenge was not specifically deportation, as it is now, the challenge was the feeding, the housing and the welcome of enormous numbers of people.”
She said there was a biweekly call of about 60 churches, mosques and synagogues involved in welcoming migrants that could be pivoted. “That’s the network that will be mobilized when it comes to fighting any sort of more extreme measures such as deportation.”
A day after the election, New York City officials said fear was premature when they addressed immigration and how they would work with the incoming Trump administration.
The city has sanctuary laws that prevent local authorities from contacting federal immigration officers if they come across a migrant without permission to be in the US. Some in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration have said they want the laws amended to not include those who commit violent crimes, but for now any city-federal cooperation is limited.
“We’re working with all of the agencies that interact with immigrant communities to make sure that they understand what our sanctuary laws are and what they are expected to follow,” said Manuel Castro, the mayor’s commissioner for immigrant affairs. While the laws are in place, he said, anxiety and fear for immigrant communities is rooted in misinformation and even hate crimes.
But Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, warned that sanctuary laws won’t stop federal immigration agencies from doing what they want.
“Sanctuary laws don’t stop federal agencies. They just don’t allow the city and state to participate,” Awawdeh said. “They’ve never been a firewall.”
Federal enforcement
Officials in US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two agencies under the Department of Homeland Security, are not commenting on any potential new policies or preparations. Both would be central to any deportation plan, but top leadership will not change until the second Trump administration begins its work on January 20.
At both the northern and southern borders, apprehensions of those who have crossed illegally continue to be low in 2024, with a seven-day average of 1,700 a day, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the government data. The busiest sector was San Diego, with 350 people detained on Tuesday.
At some points in December 2023, migrant apprehensions exceeded 10,000 per day on the US southern border.
The day after the election, Jim Desmond, a member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, posted a picture of himself and Vice President-elect JD Vance at the border wall, saying he was looking forward to securing it. Earlier this year, Desmond testified before Congress that federal policies had meant “our Border Patrol has been reduced to processing agents, standing by, watching people break our laws.”
Kenia Zamarripa, of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, said many local businesses had ties across the border with companies, operations and workers and that an efficient and secure border should still facilitate trade and travel.
“It’s not just manufacturing, it’s not just tourism or retail, these are high-paying jobs and skilled workers that our businesses need to thrive,” she told CNN.
The tone was more defiant in Los Angeles, where the University of Southern California estimated last year there were more than 800,000 undocumented immigrants in LA county. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told CNN: “The immigrant community is the heart of our city and in the face of threats and fear, Los Angeles will stand together. No one should live in fear due to their immigration status. We will continue to support local and state policies that protect immigrants and provide vital resources.”
She added: “My message is simple: No matter where you were born, how you came to this country, Los Angeles will stand with you and this will not change.”
The Los Angeles Unified School District — the second largest in the nation behind New York City — said it was bracing for a potential threat of legal action against students and their families that could lead to separation or deportation. It added that it would not enter into agreements with government agencies for the enforcement of federal immigration law unless required by law.
“Immigration enforcement activities around schools create hardships and barriers to health and educational attainment and cultivate a pervasive climate of fear, conflict, and stress that affects all students in our district, regardless of their background or immigration status,” a spokesperson for the district said in a statement sent to CNN.
Across the border from San Diego in Tijuana, Mexico, about 3,400 people are waiting in migrant shelters, according to Jose Luis Perez Canchola, the city’s migration affairs director.
Many are hoping to enter the US legally using the CBP ONE app run by DHS to get an immigration appointment, but there are fears that the app could be impacted, he said.
“In the event of a mass cancellation of appointments and closing CBP ONE, what may happen is that many will decide to illegally cross the border before January 2025,” Perez Canchola said.
There is also concern in Piedras Negras, the Mexican city across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Texas. “There’s fear and trepidation,” said Sister Isabel Turcios, director of the Frontera Digna shelter, where migrants were also using CBP ONE to get an appointment with an immigration officer.
“I try to calm them because the anxiety they’re feeling is very great,” she said.
