A New Era for Immigration under Trump: 'Fear can be seen increasingly in undocumented communities'

NEW YORK (WENY) -- Research from a Gallup survey from this election season found immigration was the second most important factor, after the economy, in voters' presidential choices.  

With Trump's win, the question remains how quickly immigration policies will change. Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, Clinical Professor of Law at Cornell, predicts more fear-based tactics targeting immigrants. 

“Under the prior Trump presidency, we saw scaled-up deportation efforts and they were against groups that had not been prioritized by the prior administration,says Kelley-Widmer, adding,So some presidential administrations will say,Okay we're going to prioritize, for example, immigrants with criminal records for deportation,but under the last Trump presidency, there was the element of randomness and unpredictability that was an intentional and effective fear tactic.  

With the possibility of mass deportation going into effect under the incoming Trump administration, mixed-status families may soon see themselves going back to a new level of caution, as well as those of lawful status taking more responsibility to protect members who are undocumented.  

In Trump’s first term as president, nearly 5,000 families were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border under his zero-tolerance immigration policy that ignited global outrage.  

During an interview with Mexican Journalist Enrique Acevedo on Univision in Nov. 2023, Trump touched on various topics related to campaign proposals and how he planned to win over the Hispanic vote for 2024.  

When asked by Acevedo how he would address the long-term consequences of family separation and ensure humane treatment of migrants, and refugees' families in the future, he responded that it was the Obama administration that initially "built the cells."

“But, you know, it's slightly different with us. But we did family separation. A lot of people didn't come. It stopped people from coming by the hundreds of thousands because when they hear family separation, they say, 'well, we better not go.'” 

In the days before Election Day, Trump made his stance clear, vowing to restore the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. He made a campaign stop in North Carolina where he was joined by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. 

“I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil,addingand if they come back into our country, it's an automatic 10 years in jail with no possibility of parole. And I'm here by calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 allows for the president to detain, relocate, or deport non-citizens who are from a country that’s considered an enemy of the U.S. during wartime explained Kelley-Widmer.  

“This act originally allowed any male over the age of 14 who was not a naturalized citizen to be removed and that has been expanded to women, but it was historically about a fear of French supporters living in the U.S. when the U. S. was on the brink of war with France.” 

The act has been invoked three times, most recently during World War II when the U.S. had a role in the internment of people of Japanese descent. However, The Constitution gives Congress, not the President, the power to declare war. The president must wait for a debate and a congressional vote before using the Alien Enemies Act.

Since Jan. 2021 there have been 6.3 million migrant encounters at the U.S. Southern border, with over 2.4 million allowed entry according to Homeland Security data.

A Gallup poll showed an increase of U.S. adults wanting to see more cutbacks in immigration. One poll found 76 percent are in favor of the U.S. hiring additional border patrol agents, while 63 percent prefer allowing the president and the secretary of Homeland Security to ban asylum when there is an influx of migrants at the Southwest border. Concerns are growing within undocumented communities surrounding the uncertainty of mass deportations, including of long-time residents, following Trump's expressed support for tighter immigration policies. 

“What Trump is going to try to do is increase deportations and increase the use of a tool called expedited removal that allows people to be deported without having their day in court. We’ll also see the involvement of the military at the border, most likely expanded detention, whether that's family separation, I think, remains to be seen, but The Trump campaign has promised detention camps at the border, and increased building of the border wall. 

There are about 11 million undocumented people in the U.S.; some may have lawful permanent residency (LPRs) or a green card and presently would not be subject to expedited removal tactics. There are different ways to become an LPR, which are calledclasses of admission.The largest group is people who are granted LPR status through family reunification according to the Department of Homeland Security.

“You could imagine someone who's lived here for 25 years, they have their U. S. citizen kids, they've been working all this time, and normally somebody like that who doesn't have criminal convictions and is just contributing to society would not be a target, but under the Trump administration, we probably will see that. 

Meanwhile, in Upstate New York, 50 percent of farmworkers are undocumented, according to research by Cornell University, with 75 percent of New Yorkers expressing their appreciation for their work in a survey. 

“We really do rely on the immigrant workforce here in Upstate New York, and as you mentioned, farms, especially dairy farms, really rely on an immigrant workforce, but already, I am receiving calls from farm workers who are afraid. They said,I heard Trump was elected. Are they going to deport me?’ 

Kelley-Widmer says employers who are farmers may soon see the detriment of how difficult it can get to find workers. 

President-elect Trump has also talked about other programs, like the Asylum Cooperation Agreement, an initiative between the U.S. and El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras where they negotiated for certain asylum-seekers to be sent to their countries to continue their protection claims there. Kelley-Widmer describes the notion as "problematic."

“I think that any Asylum Cooperation Agreement that involves returning people to their own country to await their claims is highly problematic, in part, because the reason that people are leaving their countries to seek asylum is that they're afraid to be in their country and under the International Refugee Convention and the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980, we have an obligation under international law that says we cannot return people to a country where they will face persecution.” 

Kelley-Widmer also anticipates a rollback of protection for those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a group she works closely with, to be of target.  

“I think we're going to see just a bureaucratic slowdown of other kinds of legal cases, the bureaucratic barriers that can be created by just making processing times long. 

If you or someone you know is a part of the immigrant community, Kelley-Widmer recommends staying informed by following Informed Immigrant, an organization that puts out updates about what's going on in different immigration litigation and policies. 


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