For newcomers to New York City, there is no plan B after Trump's victory

For newcomers to New York City, there is no plan B after Trump’s victory

Immigrants from Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador fear that his promises could become reality after he is elected

Lucia Cholakian Herrera

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For 24-year-old Mario Kandamil, a return to his hometown in Colombia is out of the question.

He, his wife and his three-year-old son fled their country after being threatened by guerrillas during his military service. As they traveled north by land, he was kidnapped by a Mexican cartel in Guerrero, he said, and extorted by immigration officials along the way. They reached New York with one hope: to settle down, work and build a better future.

But when he heard the news that Donald Trump would win the presidency, he shuddered. “I got terrified,” he said outside his hideout in downtown Manhattan. “Just to think that we have been through so much and now they want to deport us… it seems unfair.”

Kandamil, like thousands of others in New York, is waiting for his asylum case to be resolved, even though he already has a work permit that allows him to work as a driver. He hopes his son will grow up and study in the United States. But President-elect Trump has been clear about what he hopes to accomplish during his second presidency: the deportation of 13.3 million immigrants, including people like Kandamil and his family.

According to one recent report According to the American Immigration Council, the cost of a one-time mass deportation operation (of) an estimated total of 13.3 million immigrants without legal status is at least $315 billion, taking into account the costs of “arrest, detention, legal processing and removal.” ”, in addition to the impact on the US economy due to lost labor. If we were to do this over a more feasible ten-year period, “(d)porting 1 million immigrants per year would have an annual cost of $88 billion.”

Also read: ‘We hear they are going to deport us immediately’: Venezuelan migrants fear the worst if Donald Trump wins the election

Diego Chaves, of the Migration Policy Institute, said in an interview with Documented that “logistically, deportation is a multi-million, if not billion, dollar operation that does not inherently create order,” but that Trump could choose to activate deportation processes. as soon as day 1 in the White House.

“Through executive action, he could announce mass deportations of both migrants and asylum seekers, which could also begin to take place soon,” he said. “However, this may ultimately be challenged in court, halting and delaying his plans. However, the story may distill a sense of distrust in the system, and many asylum seekers may decide to return voluntarily or remain in the US without any legal status.”

Alejandra Sánchez, a pseudonym she applied for for fear of damaging her status in the US, arrived from Venezuela a year ago with her two teenage children. Standing outside a shelter in Brooklyn where they live, she too told Documented that returning to her home country is not a possibility. “Not while this government is still in power,” she said. She said she faced political persecution and her safety would be at risk if she had to go back.

However, she said there is no other alternative than prayer. “I am confident that I will not be deported,” she told Documented. “I don’t think God will abandon me.”

Ten newcomers Documented spoke to outside shelters in New York City early Wednesday morning, shortly after news broke that Trump would win the presidency, said they would not consider leaving the US for the time being. However, they all said they feared being deported or having their cases dismissed by the court.

But Trump’s campaign relied heavily on building the concept of “migrant crime,” a rhetoric that peaked when he blamed Haitian immigrants for “eating the dogs” of their neighbors in Ohio; and claiming that Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan-born crime gang, had “literally taken over the town” of Aurora, Colorado. Trump repeatedly said the United States has an “open border,” even though the Biden administration has reduced the number of legal border crossings to 1,450 per day since last year.

Also read: What a President Trump victory could mean for the US-Mexico border

But the president-elect’s claims about the reckless crossing of migrant criminals have reached even among asylum seekers, who now fear they will be seen as “the bad ones,” as many of them called them, rather than their legitimate reasons for migrating were picked up. take into consideration. José Puebla, a pseudonym he applied for fear that his status in the US from Ecuador would be affected, said that if migrants like him are deported it is because “a lot of people are doing bad things.” Christian Morales, 35, from Venezuela, said: “We are not all bad, but we will all pay the price for the mistakes of a few.”

However, non-violent crime in the city declined 3.1% in September 2024 compared to the same month last year, the NYPD said. Newcomers Documented spoke to on November 6 said they had not seen others in their situation commit crimes. However, Hispanic voters who spoke to Documented on Election Day repeatedly said that the alleged crimes and feelings of insecurity brought by the new arrivals were one of their main reasons for electing Trump.

Chaves of the Migration Policy Institute said Trump’s threats could also shift asylum seekers’ perspectives on their future in the US. “His story,” he said, “may distill a sense of distrust in the system, and many asylum seekers may decide to return voluntarily or remain in the U.S. without any legal status.”

But at least as of November 6 in the morning, with the fresh news that Trump was elected for the second time in American history and voted en masse despite his aggressive attitude towards various minority groups, including immigrants, none of the newcomers spoke. to be able to say what they think will happen in their lives.

“I just ask God to touch Trump’s heart,” Kandamil said. “And that he changes his way of thinking.”