Immigrant families are spending the holidays having difficult conversations as they await President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to implement what he has called “the largest deportation program in American history” once he is sworn in next month.
“Many of us honestly celebrate Christmas together and think, ‘Oh my God, is this the last time we’re going to spend Christmas with our family members?’” said Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, head of the Hope CommUnity Center, a nonprofit organization. outside Orlando, Florida, which advocates for immigrants and other underserved communities. “This is really heartbreaking.”
To fulfill Trump’s pledge to deport more than 11 million undocumented immigrants, the new administration plans to roll back policies that have limited immigration enforcement operations in sensitive places such as schools, churches and hospitals, as well as in surrounding areas. limited, NBC News reported.
“There’s no way they can deport millions of people if they don’t go for the low-hanging fruit, and this is it,” Sousa-Lazaballet said.
NBC News spoke with nearly a half-dozen immigrant rights advocates in four states, and they all said they have received an increasing number of calls from immigrants asking about their rights. They have also heard questions from community groups, schools and churches about what their role is in light of such opportunities.
In response, the advocates and groups are providing know-your-rights training and helping vulnerable families create action plans in the event an undocumented family member is suddenly detained or deported.
In Texas, a new law requiring some hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status is beginning to “push people further into the shadows,” offering a glimpse of what happens when sensitive locations are targeted by immigration enforcement, says Javier Hidalgo, legal counsel director of RAICES, a San Antonio nonprofit that advocates for refugees and immigrants.
Texas has become a model for cracking down on immigration, Hidalgo said, but that has also motivated advocates and nonprofits to provide affected families with tools and resources to curb the harmful effects of detentions and deportations. These will likely impact nearly 5.8 million American households where at least one family member is undocumented.
Like Texas, Florida is “more likely to bear the brunt” of Trump’s immigration policies than other states as Governor Ron DeSantis has shown himself to be an ally in advancing the new president’s agenda, Sousa-Lazaballet said.
Similar to what Hidalgo is doing in Texas, Sousa-Lazaballet in Florida has facilitated thousands of difficult, but necessary conversations to ensure immigrant families have a “dignity plan.”
The plan includes drafting power of attorney documents or a guardianship that will determine who will care for the children left behind if an undocumented parent is picked up by immigration authorities. Sousa-Lazaballet said this ensures that parents do not lose custody of their children to the Ministry of Families and Children simply because they never came home after being detained or deported.
In Phoenix, Arizona, Jose Patiño, vice president of education and external affairs at Aliento, an advocacy group, is doing the same with his “family packages.” Patiño said it is important that families establish legal custody of all their property and financial accounts so that relatives left behind can access them if the main breadwinner is detained or deported.
According to Sousa-Lazaballet’s experience, the first 30 to 45 minutes of these types of conversations “are just crying and sobbing, trying to bring people back to their senses enough” to create the plan they need.
While it’s important to prepare for the worst, the process also takes an immeasurable toll on the mental health of both adults and children in immigrant families as they try to continue their daily routines, Patiño, Hidalgo and Sousa-Lazaballet say.
RAICES, the largest immigration legal services provider in Texas and a leading refugee resettlement agency, said it is “prepared to challenge any presidential action that would undermine fair access to the legal and human right to seek safety in the U.S. threatens”
If the policy limiting immigration enforcement actions at sensitive locations is rescinded, depending on how the Trump administration implements it, there could be legal grounds for a challenge, Hidalgo said. Until then, the organization remains vigilant.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles plans to do the same, said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, director of communications.
Over the past month, the coalition has offered 93 know your rights presentations at LA schools, businesses and organizations that provide community services. As Inauguration Day approaches, Cabrera expects demand for this type of training to increase.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “has no jurisdiction over our lives, the Constitution does, and we are protected regardless of our immigration status,” Cabrera said.
On Jan. 20, United We Dream, the nation’s largest immigrant youth-led network, plans to reopen the hotline it launched during Trump’s first term as president, said Anabel Mendoza, the organization’s interim director of communications.
Mendoza said the hotline will provide support to immigrants and anyone affected by immigration enforcement actions in the coming year.
“No one will be immune from feeling the effects and consequences of mass deportations. It affects everyone,” she said. That’s why United We Dream is also urging elected officials at all levels of government to “stand with immigrants,” but especially to “take concrete and tangible actions that raise barriers to what we know Trump is planning.”
That, along with “tremendous public pressure,” would be key to ensuring that immigration enforcement tactics that are “contrary to American values” do not become the new normal, Patiño said.
In the meantime, Patiño said he is advising undocumented immigrants, especially young people, to undergo legal screenings to find out if they qualify for any kind of relief that could put them on the path to legal immigration status.
For those already in that process, Hidalgo recommends always keeping their immigration paperwork up to date and having the documents with them in case they meet with an immigration enforcement officer.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
