Undocumented immigrants and their families in California braced for the worst — and many told CalMatters they planned to go underground — as newly sworn-in President Donald Trump began issuing executive orders to enable what he promises will be the largest deportation in US history.
“It’s draining my energy a lot, thinking about what’s going to happen and not knowing exactly what’s going to happen with me, my family, and my daughters,” said Frank, a resident of northeastern Los Angeles who asked to be identified only by his first name due to his ongoing immigration case.
Advocates said they had heard from parents who were considering keeping their children home from school this week.
Some neighbors have stated that they will send their children to shop for groceries and run errands, allowing them to spend the majority of their time at home.
“I plan to just stay very local, no unnecessary trips, and thank God my work is close to my house,” said Frank, a restaurant cook who came to this country without federal authorization from El Salvador about 20 years ago.
Kathleen, his seven-year-old wife and a US citizen, described the situation as “terrifying” and expressed concern for him as well as “what I would be left to deal with and having to take care of our kids on my own.”
In his inaugural speech, President Trump hinted at a planned series of executive orders, which he began issuing later that day.
This evening, he declared a national emergency at the southern border that “requires the use of the Armed Forces” — a move that will likely face legal challenges.
“All illegal entry will be immediately halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump continued in his inaugural address, without providing any details on how he will miraculously end all illegal entry.
His figure for noncitizens with criminal convictions is significantly higher than that reported by federal immigration authorities.
The Republican president also stated that he intended to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their immigration court hearings in the United States.
“I will end the practice of ‘catch and release,’ and I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” continued the president.
As expected, he signed an executive order designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. “And by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks …” he told reporters.
And he signed another order to revoke birthright citizenship, a constitutional right that guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the United States or its territories, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
Trump wants the Supreme Court to reinterpret this provision. There will undoubtedly be a legal challenge.
By late afternoon on the West Coast, several hundred protesters began marching from San Diego’s Balboa Park to the Hall of Justice, chanting, “When immigrant lives are under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!”
“I’m worried about migrant people because this will be really hard for the next four years. It was before too, when Trump had power the last time. It was really crazy for us right there on the border, and we expect the same thing right now or worse,” said Alejandro Ortigoza, 50, the leader of Armadillos Busqueda y Rescate, a group that goes out into the desert to search for the remains of missing migrants.
Yet even as the new president was declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, people whose lives straddle it mostly carried on with business as usual.
Lighter than normal foot traffic continued through the “pedestrian east” crossing at San Ysidro as people calmly headed for the trolley under the familiar noise of a helicopter circling above.
“I think Trump is very racist….and he’s not right in the head”
Juan, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana and crosses the border daily to work
In the Home Depot parking lot in Imperial Beach, day laborers gathered as they usually do, seeking odd jobs helping San Diegans move or clean up their lawns. They said they cross the border every day from their homes in Tijuana and didn’t expect Trump’s executive orders would heavily affect them. Still, several planned to carry documents proving they are naturalized U.S. citizens everywhere they go.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Juan, a 60-year-old from Sinaloa, Mexico, and a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana and crosses the border daily to work. “It’s not convenient for the U.S., nor for Mexico, to close the border. It won’t benefit either country.”
“I think Trump is very racist….and he’s not right in the head,” he added.
Juan declined to give his last name out of fear of retaliation or harassment for sharing his negative opinion about the president. He keeps proof of his legal status ready. “I always bring my certification, saying I’m naturalized everywhere I go. I have it in my backpack always.”
Saúl Muñoz, a 53-year-old construction worker who lives in the Otay area of Tijuana, predicted an increase in human rights violations under Trump.
“If they remove all the (people who are) undocumented, then yes, we’re going to have more work, but they’re going to want to pay the same as they did before, they’re going to want to pay us less,” said Muñoz. “So, really, who is going to benefit?”
“Throughout the Trump administration, we’re going to see horrors in terms of the attacks that immigrant communities are going to suffer. President Trump will put 5.1 million U.S. citizen children at risk of family separation,” said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, a national pro-immigrant advocacy group based in D.C.
The most recent New York Times / Ipsos poll of Americans, conducted earlier in January, found that 55% either strongly or somewhat support mass deportations of people living in the United States without authorization.
Public support for deportation was even stronger in certain circumstances: 87% of those surveyed backed deporting those who are “here illegally and have criminal records,” and 63% backed removing those who are “here illegally and arrived over the last four years.”
But just 41% of those surveyed supported ending “birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants who are here illegally.” And only 34% wanted to stop deportation protections for “immigrants who were children when they entered the country illegally.”
“You’re going to concentrate on the worst first, public safety threats first. But no one’s off the table. If they’re in the country illegally, they’ve got a problem.”
Trump border czar tom homan
It’s not like Trump’s actions today hadn’t been telegraphed far in advance — on the campaign trail, he repeatedly promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. By the end of last week, Trump’s Incoming “border czar,” Tom Homan, was telling Fox News that large-scale raids are set to begin as soon as Tuesday.
“There’s gonna be big raids all across the country. Chicago is just one of many places,” said Homan, the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “On Tuesday, you’re going to expect ICE … ICE is finally going to go out and do their job. We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE and let them go arrest ‘criminal aliens.’ That’s what’s going to happen.”
The administration’s plans are likely to encounter significant legal challenges and logistical obstacles, including the challenge of housing millions of detainees before they can be removed.
Threatening to yank California’s federal funds — again
One of Trump’s immigration orders today also threatened to pull federal mone y from “sanctuary jurisdictions” that limit collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies.
A third of California’s budget relies on federal dollars.
“The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, to the maximum extent possible under law, evaluate and undertake any lawful actions to ensure that so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions, which seek to interfere with the lawful exercise of Federal law enforcement operations, do not receive access to Federal funds,” one order states.
“Further, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall evaluate and undertake any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted based on any such jurisdiction’s practices that interfere with the enforcement of Federal law.”
