Summary
Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign has reignited fears among undocumented migrants with promises of “mass deportations” and migrant communities are bracing for uncertainty and a new wave of nativism.
His administration plans to target those deemed public safety or national security threats, potentially reinstating workplace raids and using military resources.
Advocates warn that “collateral arrests” could sweep up migrants without criminal records.
Many, like “Dreamers” protected under DACA, fear family separations, while others, such as Carlos in NYC, hope Trump’s economic policies might benefit them.
“A lot of Latinos, those who can vote, did so because they think he [Trump] can improve the economy. That would be very good for us too,” said Carlos, an undocumented Mexican who lives in New York City.
Anyone that thinks that it’s going to be only ‘criminals’ that get deported forget that crossing the border without documentation is a crime. Yeah, it’s a misdemeanor, but it’s still a crime, and the Trump administration is still going to deport them when they can.
Adjudicating whether or not someone is guilty of a crime, or in the US illegally, requires a trial. Doing that for millions of people all of a sudden within a system that’s already backed up by more than a year is completely impossible.
In other words, they are absolutely talking about deporting innocent people of the wrong ethnicity without any attempt at due process, and anyone who thinks different is living in a dream world. And then, once they’re done with that batch, they plan to move on to other classes of undesirables.
Maybe they’re going to hold them under detention while trying millions and millions of people. Might need to build new detention facilities, of course, some kind of camps where they can concentrate the population. It’s going to take a long time too, so in the name of government efficiency they can lease them out to businesses and farms for labor while they await their trials. Work sets you free.