Families of migrants and immigration advocacy organizations are bracing for the possibility that millions of families would be split up during President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportations.
The specifics of the deportations and the effects they will have on families are unknown. However, according to a recent research by the pro-immigration advocacy group American Immigration Council, up to 4 million mixed-status families—some of whom have U.S. citizens and others of whom do not—may be split up.
Advocates, asylum-seekers, and mixed-status families in states including Arizona, Colorado, and Pennsylvania say they are preparing for the possibility that their children will be taken from their parents.
Lillie, a U.S. citizen who chose not to use her last name for fear of her family’s safety, has been married to her Honduran undocumented husband in Pennsylvania for ten years. She said she plans to have a power of attorney prepared in the event that her husband is deported and that she took her U.S.-born children to receive their passports last week.
“It would be very difficult for me to get passports for my children, for our children to be able to leave the country to go see my husband if something happened and he was detained or deported,” she said.
In 2017, during the previous Trump administration, her spouse spent almost two months in custody. She claimed that the incident had an emotional and mental impact on him.
He has stated unequivocally that he would not allow it to happen again. “Let’s stay and fight,” Lillie added. Since he doesn’t want to remain in detention once more, it would be best to let him leave.
Trump has used the pledge to implement the biggest mass deportation program in American history to rally supporters throughout his successful 2024 presidential campaign. The outgoing president and his new administration have also not ruled out separating or deporting families, despite Trump’s declaration that he will start by giving criminal noncitizens priority for deportation.
Tom Homan, who has since been appointed as Trump’s border czar, said last month when asked by CBS News if there was a way to carry out large deportations without splitting families: Families may be deported together.
Trump and his transition team are still working on specific mass deportation plans, but sources close to the planning told NBC News recently that the possibility of expanding detention facilities in nonborder U.S. cities and resuming family detention are being explored.
A coalition of over ten charity organizations in Tucson, Arizona, called Coalici n de Derechos Humanos is assisting families with mixed and undocumented status in preparing emergency packs in anticipation of possible mass deportations. According to the organizers, the concept is partially inspired by prior instances in which parents were arrested or deported while their kids were enrolled in school.
In several of our circumstances, they called. According to coalition co-founder Isabel Garcia, there were instances in which they were unable to contact the mother or their friends.
Important documents including a power of attorney for parental authority, family emergency contacts, and a child’s school records will be included in the emergency packet that coalition members are assisting families with creating in local workshops.
Garcia claimed that following Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, community interest in the alliance and its offerings has reached a pinnacle.
Attendance at our gatherings has increased. The number of calls to us has increased. “People are flooding us now,” Garcia remarked.
Additionally, advocacy groups are preparing for deportation-related changes to immigration enforcement at the state level. The hard-line state immigration and border enforcement law, Proposition 314, was passed by Arizona voters in November, and organizers of Tucson’s Coalici n de Derechos Humanos say they are preparing for its effects.
In addition to allowing local law enforcement to arrest noncitizens and state judges to order deportations, the proposal makes it a state criminal to enter Arizona between a port of entry illegally. Additionally, it imposes state sanctions for actions such as providing false information to a public benefits program or employer, or selling fentanyl that results in the death of another individual.
In response to what proponents claim is a record-high number of illegal border crossings during the Biden administration, several state laws pertaining to immigration, including Proposition 314, have been passed in the United States.
High-profile crimes committed by immigrants and scenes of asylum-seeker camps in nonborder cities helped make immigration a major issue in this year’s election in places like Arizona that supported Trump’s reelection.
Certain provisions of Arizona’s Proposition 314 cannot take effect until comparable laws that are presently being upheld in court, such as Texas Senate Bill 4, have been in force for at least 60 days in a row. Additionally, some sheriffs in Arizona have voiced worries about having to implement Proposition 314 in its entirety.
In reference to the largely Latino jurisdiction he is in charge of, Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway stated that it would foster mistrust in the community. They would prefer not to dial 911. They would be reluctant to give us a call.
Former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Hathaway says he is particularly concerned about the new law’s lack of financing and training. If he expects his 40-deputy staff to do immigration tasks in addition to local crime, he fears that they will be overworked.
We lack the necessary training to become immigration agents, and I plan to continue practicing the same fundamentals of law enforcement as all 3,000 elected sheriffs in the United States, Hathaway stated. My priorities are the same as those of any other U.S. sheriff, despite the fact that I happen to be on the border.
Fear in Colorado
Since Texas Governor Greg Abbott began busing migrants to the region in May 2023, Yoli Casas, who operates a charity organization in Denver, has helped thousands of the more than 19,200 migrants who have landed in the city.
Although the daily arrivals have decreased dramatically in recent months, Casas reports that her team has been inundated with community emails and texts ever since Election Day.
In the event of a breakup, Casas says she has received communications from families wondering if they could give her group power of attorney to do things like book children on flights.
According to the nonprofit leader, she is starting to meet with families and attorneys to discuss what can be done and the best way to respond to these community inquiries.
Children in the after-school programs she runs are also asking concerns, she added.
They even want to know if we will be deported. “I said,” she said. Other kids are also asking, “Will my friend be deported?”
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