Garcia: Under President Trump, immigrants fear deportation

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U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Chicago, Wednesday appealed to President-elect Donald Trump to keep a deferred action program for some undocumented immigrants in the name of unity. Photo by Marlen Garcia

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Undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children — so-called Dreamers — could be the first casualties of a Donald Trump presidency.

They could lose protections President Barack Obama gave them to work legally and travel internationally without the threat of deportation under an executive action he issued in 2012. Those freedoms could be gone as early as Jan. 20 — Trump’s Inauguration Day.

OPINION

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Republicans for years have criticized the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. Many in the GOP have vowed or already tried to eliminate it. Right-leaning state governments successfully blocked through the courts the launching of another related executive action.

“I know there are many people worried, and, like me, they shed many tears this morning,” Isabel Diaz, 26, of the Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project, said Wednesday at a gathering at the downtown office of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

“Thanks to DACA, I was able to accomplish things I had only dreamed of,” Diaz, brought to the U.S. when she was 2, said of being able to work and travel freely.

Trump promised to deport all undocumented immigrants, so the assumption is that DACA will be wiped out quickly. Those who have DACA and plan to travel must be sure to return to the U.S. by Trump’s inauguration, Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, said. If DACA is thrown out, those outside the U.S. might not be able to return.

“We have to prepare for the worst,” U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Chicago, a leader in the push for immigration reform, said. “We have to prepare for Donald Trump to carry out his pledge.”

Gutierrez appealed to Trump to keep DACA to build “unity,” a reference to a Trump line in the president-elect’s victory speech. “It is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump said.

Those with DACA — and we’re talking about some 800,000 immigrants — have another fear: The federal government has all their personal information on file. It was needed for background checks. That could make them easy targets for deportations. This possibility weighed heavily over the gathering at the ICIRR offices, which at times felt like a rally and other times a wake. It was scheduled with a victory by Hillary Clinton in mind. She had promised to continue DACA and tackle comprehensive immigration reform early in her presidency if elected.

Gutierrez and other immigrant leaders and lawmakers looked bleary-eyed. Some cried as immigrants shared their dashed hopes for this election.

“Last night my dream was broken,” Mina Parmar, 61, of the Indo-American Center, said, fighting tears. She emigrated from India in 2006 and became a citizen last year. “I love our country, but our country needs more progress.”

Like immigrants, Muslims are understandably worried about enduring continued discrimination in light of Trump’s repeated slams against them during the campaign.

“This isn’t about Trump versus Muslims,” Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said. “I will not allow this to be an issue in which Muslims are isolated as victims on one side. My concern … is as an American who shares concerns with people of all religions and all backgrounds.”

On deportations, it has been said Trump will have to abandon his promise to deport 11 million because it would be a costly logistical nightmare.

But even if he decides to deport a fraction of the 11 million, it will devastate immigrant communities. Obama deported more than 2 million, more than any other president, and the tearing apart of families was well documented in his two terms.

“My 7-year-old daughter said to me, ‘That means my best friend has to leave the country,'” Jaime di Paulo, executive director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce, said of his daughter’s reaction to the Trump win. “That’s every conversation in our community.”

Obama’s deportation policies led some cities and counties to adopt sanctuary ordinances to limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. They did it to repair frayed trust between local police and immigrants.

Trump has promised to punish sanctuary cities and counties by pulling back some of their federal funds.

Even so, some Chicago aldermen are working with immigrant groups to try to strengthen Chicago’s sanctuary ordinance. Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) told me some weeks back that a Trump win would be the impetus to get it done.

Immigrants in Chicago are going to hope he meant it.

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