Threats of Deporting Immigrants
Promising opportunity and freedom, the United States of America historically offered people a dream to live their lives to the fullest potential. Despite our country’s promising foundations on immigration, Americans increasingly oppose it, especially undocumented people coming here for a better life. Americans often don’t realize the struggles and circumstances that the undocumented community endures to get here.
Escalating that tension, President Donald Trump campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, expressing his disdain toward undocumented people and promising to deport them all.
An ACLU article titled ‘Trump On Immigration’ states, “Donald Trump promises to decimate American communities by targeting immigrants who are already contributing members of society and blocking new immigrants from coming lawfully to the United States. Trump has made clear that he will double down on what he did during his presidency — without regard for the law, decency, or common sense” (ACLU).
On his first day in office, Trump tried passing an executive order ending birthright citizenship, which a federal judge blocked on January 23. The unlawful executive order violates the 14th Amendment, which states that any person born in the U.S. is a citizen and entitled to equal protection and due process.
As the Trump Administration ramps up anti-immigration efforts, protecting immigrants and undocumented people has become a focal point of community organizing efforts.
How and Why Undocumented Immigrants Often Enter the Country
Photo by Kris Grogan.
For decades, immigrants arrived in America in different ways. Some arrive by boat, hiding in vehicles crossing the border, or hiking through the hot desert risking their lives. People in Mexico called “coyotes” help people find entries through the border to cross safely.
The process of becoming a documented citizen is difficult. Getting a green card or obtaining citizenship often takes years. With limited job opportunities, unsafe living conditions, and violence in their home country, immigrants travel to America in search of a better life and to survive, often risking their lives in the process.
It begs the question that, if you and your family were under threat of violence, poverty, and starvation, wouldn’t you do the same to get them to safety?
Once they cross the border, migrants take any job they can get. Unfortunately, that’s where the statement ‘Illegals are taking jobs away from the American people’ comes from. This is despite undocumented people tending to work jobs that American citizens often don’t want to work, and they do it for less than minimum wage and without OSHA protections from job hazards. They are also at much higher risk of abuse including sexual violence and threats of deportation by their employers if they call out safety violations or other illegal activity on the job site.
How the Government Views the Undocumented Community
Republicans like to use baseless terminology to disparage groups of people. With immigrants, they address undocumented people as “criminal aliens” to intentionally dehumanize them.
Those opposed to immigration use this stigmatized rhetoric to paint immigrants as villains, despite immigrants, both documented and undocumented, being statistically less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born citizens.
According to the American Immigration Council (AIC), “Past studies show no connection between immigration and crime. … When immigration goes up, crime stays the same or goes down.”
Moreover, undocumented immigrants are not inherently criminals. Being undocumented is a civil violation, not a criminal offense. If you arrive here illegally or stay past your visa, the government cannot punish you with prosecution. You would either be fined or deported. It’s important to remember that non-citizens and undocumented people have constitutionally protected rights, including due process.
On the White House website, a “Fact Sheet” section states: “States, such as the Great State of Texas, have asked the Federal Government for protection against invasion during the Biden Administration, but it failed to protect them from millions of illegal aliens entering the United States, invading their communities, and imposing billions of dollars of costs upon State and local governments.”
This conveniently ignores the fact that Trump instructed Republican lawmakers to vote against a bill Biden introduced to fund stronger border security.
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Others Being Targeted in Immigration Raids
Since Trump entered office, people report seeing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in different states and institutions carrying out raids and stops. This includes targeting workplaces and institutions like school districts and hospitals. Children in this predicament will be separated from their families and lives will be changed forever. Some Americans find this acceptable and are participating in the racism that this country and administration enable.
Immigrants aren’t the only ones being targeted in these immigration raids. So far, ICE has wrongly detained American citizens, including Native Americans and veterans.
NBC’s Suzanne Gamboa and Nicole Acevedo wrote an article last month titled ‘Trump Immigration Raids Snag U.S. Citizens, Including Native Americans, Raising Racial Profiling Fears.’ In it, they share that “Questioning of Navajo Nation citizens, who are American citizens, by ICE, has been problematic enough that Navajo President Buu Nygren took to the airwaves to address it. On tribal radio station KTNN, Nygren said he had received accounts of “negative and sometimes traumatizing” encounters between ICE and Navajo Nation citizens, Native News Online reported” (Gamboa and Acevedo).
For those detained, Trump has started sending immigrants to a detention facility in Guantanamo Bay. He is coordinating ICE to be in charge of this facility. Some groups like the ACLU are suing to halt this action.
To make matters worse, on February 18, The White House posted a reel on their Instagram showing an “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight.” The video depicted an ICE officer dragging chains on the ground, and a detained person in shackles walking up steps to a plane. Instagram users in the comments expressed they felt this was dehumanizing and making a mockery of the undocumented community.
Locals Speak Up and Share Their Experiences
A System Set Up for Oppression
Fifth Sun Project, a local Indigenous-led organization that empowers community and culture, voiced their opinions on the matter of the Trump administration targeting undocumented people.
“Mass deportations have played out in major cities, the executive orders and bills that have come out this year are atrocious, dehumanizing, and of course cause a lot of fear for our most vulnerable community,” they explained. “Many suffer from economic instability due to long-term colonialism, U.S. intervention, and support for authoritarian regimes. The U.S. has actively restricted legal pathways for migration while expanding enforcement through ICE, detention centers, and surveillance creating much more harm, violence, and devastation.”
A Wake-Up Call to Reality
Another member from the Fifth Sun Projects shared their thoughts on the matter.
“I do not think the American public has realized how truly serious the situation is,” they said. “They have gotten so used to the anti-immigrant rhetoric in this country that our community being under attack is nothing new to them. Racism is the norm in the U.S. Immigrants come to the U.S, to just be able to live a normal peaceful life, that is it.”
They went on to share that their family came here because they had no access to clean water where they lived.
“People from the city would go around once a month and give each family a certain amount of water per household. The town that I came from was very dangerous, especially towards women,” they explained. “My parents did not want their two daughters to be raised there, they feared for our safety.”
Moreover, they said that with the Trump administration attacking their community, American allies need to truly step up like never before.
“We need them to get informed about the policies that are being passed and how to protect their neighbors. We need the people to be on the lookout for ICE agents, to record, take down the location, and let the people know,” they said. “Unfortunately, we do not know how bad the situation is truly going to become. I fear that our persecution will become so severe that we will have to leave before we are deported and separated from our loved ones.
They concluded by saying, “America: open your eyes. History is repeating itself. What are you going to tell your grandkids that you did?”
How Americans Can Help the Undocumented Community
The undocumented community has dealt with this scrutiny for decades, and migrants in general since America’s inception, with well-documented hardship. And given the fact that migrants primarily helped to build this country, they deserve respect and protection. The way the government treats immigrants and undocumented people should concern everyone.
As the administration strips rights from marginalized groups, remaining silent on this paves the way for the government to strip rights from everyone.
If you want to do your part to support undocumented people, you can go to the National Immigrant Justice Center for resources and general ways to help. The Immigrant Defense Project also has a resource guide to Know Your Rights when interacting with ICE.
For local actions, follow groups like Fifth Sun Project, Mojada Inc, Make the Road NV, and Arriba for mutual aid opportunities, resources, and events to support undocumented people in the local community.
On March 27, Fifth Sun Project is hosting an Immigration Law Intro – 101 virtual training with Attorney Lorilei W. Learn more here.
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