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WASHINGTON — The morning after former President Trump won a second term on a promise to deport millions of immigrants, a line formed outside a Riverside County legal aid organization even before it opened.
Lawful permanent residents were seeking assistance with their citizenship applications. Asylum seekers who had given their home addresses to the federal government wondered if they should pack up and move.
TODEC Legal Center in Riverside County is helping immigrants prepare for President Trump’s re-election
(Mark Boster/For the Times)
A woman in the country illegally reported to the organization that her children refused to go to school for fear of being detained in her absence. The man said he was home after finishing landscaping work.
“We are fully committed right now,” said Luz Gallegos, executive director of TODEC Legal Center. “We have to prepare for the worst.”
President Trump has made mass deportations and reducing temporary legal status for millions of immigrants a top priority. Newly appointed “border czar” Tom Homan said Monday that the Trump administration will prioritize deporting people who are in the country illegally and pose a threat to public safety. He also said authorities would step up raids on workplaces as part of a crackdown on labor and sex trafficking.
“If the sanctuary cities don’t want to help us, then get out of the way because we’re coming,” Homan said in an interview on “Fox & Friends.”
California leaders and immigrant rights groups have responded by promising legal action and guarantees to protect immigrant residents from President Trump’s policies. Gov. Gavin Newsom called a special session of the Legislature last week to protect the state’s progressive policies, including immigration policy. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has vowed to defend the state’s policies in court.
Advocates are calling on the Biden administration to strengthen protections for immigrants ahead of Trump’s inauguration by redesignating certain countries to Temporary Protected Status and prioritizing pending work permit applications.
California wants to expand a program that provides free legal representation to immigrants facing deportation proceedings. It would also require local governments to enact sanctuary policies that go beyond state sanctuary laws.
Luz Gallegos, executive director of TODEC Legal Center in Riverside County, helps immigrants prepare for deportations promised by President Trump.
(Mark Boster/For the Times)
During President Trump’s previous term, immigrant advocates frequently held “Know Your Rights” meetings and encouraged families to develop contingency plans. The parents signed a guardianship agreement that allows family or friends to care for the child if the child is taken into custody. Migrants carried business cards with information about their rights (to request access to a warrant, request a lawyer, remain silent) and the phone number of a rapid response network that would take them to the scene of an immigrant arrest.
Now, organizations across California are deploying the same tactics to prepare for the incoming Trump administration. They are trying to walk a fine line between being realistic about possible federal actions and not adding to people’s fears.
“We take him at his word,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA, the Humane Immigrant Rights Coalition in Los Angeles. “Members of the immigrant rights community are perfectly clear in recognizing the fact that what is coming our way is brutality and suffering designed for political gain.”
Salas said CHIRLA receives inquiries from schools, clinics and trade unions to conduct on-site “know your rights” sessions. Advocacy groups are also working together to maximize reach. Last week, CHIRLA joined hundreds of organizations to launch We Are California, an initiative aimed at rebuilding rapid response networks, among other things.
Nana Gyamfi, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Black Alliance for Fair Immigration, said the Trump campaign promoted lies that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, which led to racial discrimination against black immigrants. He said he was particularly concerned that the country could face an escalation of the situation.
“I understand that people are tired, because as Black people we know that the hammer is going to be even tougher,” she said.
João Morales moved to Los Angeles from Nicaragua under a Biden administration program that grants legal entry and temporary work permits to financially sponsored immigrants from certain countries.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
João Morales, 29, moved to Los Angeles from Nicaragua in August 2023 under a Biden administration program that provides legal entry and temporary work permits to financially sponsored immigrants from certain countries. .
Amid uncertainty about how the incoming Trump administration will affect his ability to remain in the U.S., he attends a rally organized by the National Network of Day Labor Organizations to make his case to immigrants across the country. .
“Given everything he’s saying and everything he’s trying to do to the immigrant community, things don’t look good,” Morales said. “The most important thing is that we come together.”
Still, some organizations are working to provide information to immigrant residents, provide legal representation to those facing deportation, resist federal encroachment, and promote local policies that strengthen immigrant protections. He expressed concern about how much it would cost. They also face more limited legal options because the judiciary is more conservative due to judges appointed during President Trump’s first term.
“We don’t have the courts like last time, but we still have a constitution, we still have civil rights, we still have local laws,” Salas said.
Supporters also plan to push back against efforts to expand immigrant detention facilities and ensure the state uses its surveillance powers. A new California law allows county health officials to inspect immigrant detention facilities. But GEO Group, which operates most of the state’s facilities, filed a lawsuit last month arguing the requirement is unconstitutional and creates a huge burden on federal immigration enforcement.
“We’ve been here before,” said Talia Inlender, deputy director of the UCLA Center on Immigration Law and Policy. “And we know how to fight back.”
People who came to the United States as children and are now granted temporary status under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that protects them from deportation and allows them to work legally. Those who are being held are also concerned about their future under a second Trump term.
Born in Yugoslavia, Edvin Dapcevic has lived in the United States since he was four years old. He is an executive who heads a sales team at a major Los Angeles tech company and asked the Times not to publish his company name.
Dapcevic said President Trump’s election made him start thinking about moving to another country. That means leaving behind his mother, a permanent resident, and his brother, a U.S. citizen.
He noted that technology leaders such as South African immigrants Elon Musk and David Sachs, who supported President Trump’s re-election, have been vocal about the United States’ need for highly skilled immigrants. pointed out. He said he hopes he can tell them and the next president that hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients like him are already being vetted and that he can help close that gap.
“There is no concrete future for this country,” Dapcevic said. “I grew up here, I pay taxes, I’ve never been in trouble, I’ve never been arrested. I’ve never been forced to identify. [what country] It’s sad that America could have given me a permanent home and didn’t do that. ”
Riverside residents Monica Gonzalez and Mayra Diaz listen to representatives from the TODEC legal aid group.
(Mark Boster/For the Times)
Last week, another DACA recipient, Marta, was among those who showed up at Perris’ legal aid organization TODEC for advice, asking to be identified only by her first name. The 23-year-old from Mexico said she was worried about being fired from her job at the restaurant.
She is even more worried about her parents, who are in the country illegally. During the last Trump presidency, the family was so worried that immigration agents would show up at their home that they put tinted film on their windows so they could see out but not in.
“The fear of deportation worries us the most,” she says. “We got off to a strong start in our first term, so I feel like we’ll be even stronger this time as well.”
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