Concerns over mass deportations and family separations have been growing within the United States’ immigrant community as President-elect Donald Trump prepared to return to the White House following his victory over Kamala Harris.
Throughout his campaign, Trump promised to enforce the largest mass deportation effort in US history, reigniting fears that millions of undocumented immigrants will be affected.
According to The Guardian of UK, Areli Hernandez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who lives in the US since childhood, travelled to Phoenix to speak with voters about the potential impact of Trump’s policies. “I remember when Donald Trump first came into power, every immigrant in my community was afraid to get picked up by immigration officials,” said Hernandez. “And I know now that there’s a lot of people scared, asking themselves: ‘What am I going to do?’”
Hernandez, like many in the immigrant community, feared that Trump’s return to office would lead to family separations and mass deportations. Trump frequently referred to unauthorized immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as part of an “invasion” and blamed them for crime and economic challenges. His administration is expected to implement drastic measures to deport undocumented individuals, which could affect families and communities across the country.
According to the American Immigration Council, carrying out Trump’s mass deportation plan could cost the federal government nearly $1 trillion over a decade, potentially triggering economic consequences that would require congressional approval. Trump, however, has signaled that he is prepared to take extreme measures, including using the military, to meet his goals.
Immigration experts warn that Trump’s plans would require major infrastructure investments, including new detention centers. Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said, “There are a lot of people in our community living in mixed-status families, so mass deportations are a direct threat.” Toczylowski also highlighted the importance of legal advocacy, stating, “We intend to challenge him in the courts.”
One of the most vulnerable groups under the second Trump administration was the recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a policy implemented during the Obama administration to protect undocumented individuals brought to the U.S. as children. DACA shielded approximately 825,000 people, known as Dreamers, from deportation.
Despite Trump’s previous efforts to end DACA, the program survived multiple legal challenges. However, recipients like Hernandez worry about the future. “Thousands of folks and I who have DACA don’t have a plan if he decides to terminate it,” Hernandez said. “We should not be living in a time where immigrants are being pointed to as the reason why the government has failed on housing and the economy.”
Advocates also fear the revival of Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were processed, often under dangerous conditions. Between 2019 and 2021, more than 74,000 asylum seekers were sent back to Mexico, where many faced kidnapping, extortion, and violence. “What we saw was that people’s lives were in danger. Women were raped,” Toczylowski said.
In addition to targeting undocumented immigrants, Trump has vowed to reinstate his controversial travel ban on individuals from several Muslim-majority countries, a policy that faced numerous legal challenges during his first term.
Trump also directed rhetoric at Haitian immigrants. During a campaign rally, he claimed that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were “stealing and eating people’s dogs and cats.” Despite widespread condemnation, Trump’s comments resonated with many of his supporters, and he secured 55% of the vote in Ohio. Haitian migrants currently qualify for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which Trump previously attempted to terminate.
Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, criticized Trump’s rhetoric, saying, “What people don’t tend to understand is the power of his words. Even if there’s no physical violence, the mental pressure, the psychological violence is very detrimental.”
Trump’s return to the White House could spell the end of immigration reforms implemented during the Biden administration, including protections for DACA recipients and asylum seekers. Advocates and legal organizations were already gearing up for a prolonged battle in the courts as they brace for the impact of Trump’s hardline immigration policies.
With the immigrant community on edge, the next few months will be critical in shaping the future of U.S. immigration policy.
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