McALLEN, Texas – In the brightly lit law office of immigration attorney Alex Martinez, the reception area is buzzing with activity.
Positioned on a quiet street corner just eight miles north of the bridge separating the U.S. and Mexico, the law firm has seen a notable increase in calls and in-person visits from people seeking an immigration attorney.
Here in Hidalgo County, where President-elect Donald Trump won by just under 3 percentage points last month, many of those customers say they or their family members voted for him.
Until this year, Hidalgo County had not elected Republicans as president since 1972. Now it is one of fourteen counties on or near the border that voted for Trump — many for the first time in decades.
“They believe he’s good for business,” Martinez said. “It seems more important that money gets into the family than that they get legal status or are not removed.”
Of the 35 states identified in a 2022 Pew Research Center report as having an undocumented immigrant population of more than 50,000, more than half went for Trump this election. This puts immigrant rights groups, immigration advocates and undocumented immigrants in those states in a difficult position: They must prepare to fight the coming immigration policies embraced by Trump and supported by a majority of voters in their region.
Kelli Stump, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, has seen the phenomenon firsthand, along with many of her organization’s nearly 16,000 member attorneys. Based in Oklahoma, a state where Trump won every county, Stump said a “significant” number of her clients voted for Trump or had family members who did.
“They don’t believe Trump is going to deport their family member. Trump is going to deport the criminal or the person who recently crossed the border, Stump said: “They think their family member might be safe.”
Through email chains and social media, she sees fellow lawyers doing their best to get ahead of potentially drastic changes in immigration enforcement, including the deportation of entire families and an end to birthright citizenship, both of which Trump reiterated as policy goals in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier this month.
“We are preparing for war. We just don’t know yet where the battle will take place,” Stump said.
In the city of San Juan, just 15 minutes east of McAllen, organizers with La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), an immigration organization, say they are preparing in similar ways.
Donald Trump visits the US-Mexico border fence in Otay Mesa, California in 2019.
Joaquín García, the organization’s director of community organizing, said he has noticed increased fear and uncertainty in this border community since the election, especially after Trump’s suggestion that entire families could be deported together regardless of their immigration status.
“People hear that and are afraid. I’ve heard people say, ‘What’s going to happen?’ Or ‘I became naturalized a few years ago. Are they going to come after me? Am I still at risk?'” García said. “We’re also telling people, if you’re a US resident, maybe you should consider applying for US citizenship to get some more protection, but right now we don’t know at sometime. if that protection is still something that will protect you from deportation to a country you may have never been to. ”
García’s organization is one of many organizations across the country hosting or planning to host “know your rights” information sessions for the public, including Siembra NC in North Carolina, Project New Yorker in Queens and the UNLV Immigration Clinic in Nevada . In Kansas City, Missouri, immigration attorneys have begun handing out “red cards” stating residents’ rights when approached by immigration officials.
García said he advises families to keep an easily accessible cache of documents somewhere in their home in case a removal order is issued. That file would contain money, proof that they have lived in the US and paid taxes, their birth certificate from their country of origin and – if they have children who are US citizens – a power of attorney that would allow someone to take action against their parents. in legal matters in case the parents are deported.
That’s exactly the kind of precaution Maria, whose last name is being withheld because of her undocumented immigration status, is working on now.
Maria left her home country 18 years ago, leaving her then-son with extended family to earn a living with farm work in the US. Since then, she and her husband have had twin daughters, who are now teenagers and U.S. citizens. She pays LUPE $40 a year for access to legal and other services in Hidalgo County.
She paid attention to the new president’s words through news reports and social media.
“Now we are more than scared; we are scared and tortured, day after day,” she said in Spanish.
She said her family isn’t asking for anything — “we know how to live with very little” — but she has one request for the new Trump administration: that her family be allowed to stay together so her daughters can have a better life to have. in the country where they were born.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
