‘Our community is terrified’ – mass deportations are feared » Urban Milwaukee

Fernanda Jimeneza 24-year-old resident of Racine, came to the United States from Mexico with her mother and siblings when she was just 5 years old. It’s the only house she can remember.

For nearly a decade, Jimenez has been protected from deportation by the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, launched under the Obama administration. The program allows people who came to the country illegally as children to obtain a work permit and continue living in America.

Jimenez graduated earlier this year Alverno College in Milwaukee. She currently works as a grant writer, helping nonprofits apply for funding. But she is also in the process of applying to law school.

“I love helping nonprofits get funding to do the work we need in our country and especially in our communities, but I am more passionate about community organizing,” she said. “After law school, I would like to eventually use legal skills for community organizing.”

Jimenez has big dreams, but she says she has felt a looming fear since the former president Donald Trump won his bid to return to the White House in this year’s presidential race.

She was still in high school when Trump was first elected in 2016, but she says she still felt “terrified” about what his election would mean for her parents who do not have permanent legal status and what it would mean for the future of DACA.

Those fears have flared up again in recent weeks.

“Our community is terrified. They are uncertain about their future and worried about their family members who are undocumented and not protected by DACA,” Jimenez said. “Many naturalized citizens are also concerned. The threat of mass deportation is being taken seriously.”

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to lead the largest deportation effort in American history. Shortly after the election, he announced that Tom Homan, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would serve as his administration’s successor. “border czar.”

In interviews with Fox News last week, Homan said he would prioritize the deportation of people who threaten public safety or pose a risk to national security. But so does he told the network that anyone staying in the country illegally was “off the table,” and that the government would act workplace immigration raids.

Group Plan for Immigrants’ Rights organizes efforts

Following Trump’s re-election, Voces de La Frontera, a Milwaukee-based immigrant rights group, has held community meetings in Green Bay, Milwaukee and Danish province to plan next steps, according Christine Neumann-Ortizthe founding and executive director of the organization.

She said many immigrants in Wisconsin without permanent legal status fear the prospect of mass deportations, but she doesn’t believe they will leave the country preemptively. Instead, she said they may leave Wisconsin for states that offer more protections to immigrants.

Neumann-Ortiz said Voces is using the regional meetings to brainstorm ways it can organize around protecting immigrants without permanent legal status. She said they plan to raise awareness through mass strikes, protests and civil disobedience.

“We’re going to have to be a really strong movement that stands for human decency and solidarity, and we’re going to have to do that in the streets,” she said.

Neumann-Ortiz also said she believes most Trump voters voted for him because of economic concerns, not because they wanted people forcibly removed from their communities.

“I think as things unfold, there will be shock waves that cause a lot of people to open their eyes, regret their decisions and see what they can do to help,” she said.

David NajeraSpanish outreach coordinator for the Republican Party of Wisconsindoes not share the concerns about mass deportations.

“My parents came from Mexico and Texas. They came the right way, and that’s the way I like to see people come,” he said.

Najera said he supports Trump’s immigration policies, citing concerns about crime, infectious diseases and government resources.

“The immigrants are just overwhelming the hospitals, schools and everything else, taking our tax dollars,” Najera said. “I’m not saying they are all bad, but there is a majority of them who have just come out of their prisons in different countries and come here with bad intentions.”

Several studies to have shown immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native Americans. And Wisconsin immigrants without permanent legal status paid $240 million in federal, state and local taxes in 2022, according to the US Immigration Council.

How do Wisconsin immigration lawyers advise clients?

Marc Christopheran immigration attorney based in Milwaukee, represents clients in federal immigration court who are facing deportation or seeking asylum. Christopher said he does not expect the Trump administration’s deportation efforts to be limited to people with serious criminal convictions or those with safety concerns.

He said he expects more targets of people who have not committed crimes or have been charged with minor offenses, such as driving without a license. Immigrants living in Wisconsin without proof of citizenship or legal residency can’t get a driver’s license.

“What I tell my clients is make sure you follow the law to a T,” Christopher said. “If you don’t have a driver’s license, don’t drive. If you can have someone else take you to work or take your kids to school, make sure you do that because that is the most common way they end up in immigration court.”

Aissa Olivarezchief counsel for the Community Immigration Law Center in Madison, said she expects the new administration to expand the use of “expedited removal.” It is a process that allows the government to deport people without taking their case to an immigration judge if the person has been in the country for less than two years.

“I also advise people to gather evidence that they have been here for more than two years – phone bills, electricity bills, rental contracts, school information – to show in case they are stopped and questioned by immigration authorities. Olivarez said.

Trump’s second term is reigniting fears about the future of DACA and its impact on mixed-status families

Christopher and Olivarez both said the DACA program, and other federal programs that give immigrants temporary protected status, could end in the coming years.

Trump previously tried to end the DACA program, but it was upheld by a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision with Chief Justice John Roberts sides with four liberal judges. The current court has a 6-3 conservative majority, meaning Roberts would no longer be the tie-breaking vote.

“It (DACA) will almost certainly be found unconstitutional by the current Supreme Court,” Christopher said of the DACA program.

Jimenez, the DACA recipient from Racine, said she fears her participation in the program will make her a target for deportation by the federal government.

“We have to provide an updated information application every two years about where we live, our biometrics, our photos, and they have to be recent photos,” she said. “They have our full information. And that’s actually where our fear is. They know who we are. They know we have no papers.”

Immigrant rights advocates also worry that a mass deportation effort could devastate the country an estimated 28,000 families in Wisconsin with mixed immigration status. Those families include households where one spouse may be a U.S. citizen married to someone who does not have permanent legal status, or where the parents of U.S. citizen children do not have legal status.

Jimenez said her brother is part of a mixed-status family. She says he is a DACA recipient, his girlfriend is a legal resident and his children are U.S. citizens.

“If he is deported, his children would suffer the most without their father with them, and my parents, who I fear most, have no protection,” she said. “They have to work. They have to go to work by car. They have to drive without a driver’s license.”

What could a second Trump term mean for asylum seekers in Wisconsin?

Christopher, the Milwaukee immigration attorney, said individuals seeking asylum in Wisconsin are in the country legally while they wait to plead their case to the government that they should be granted asylum in the United States.

Under the last Trump administration, Christopher said the federal government narrowed the qualifications for asylum. He said the previous Trump administration made those fleeing cartel or gang violence in their home countries ineligible and rolled back protections for those fleeing gender-based violence.

If Trump tightens restrictions on asylum qualifications again, Christopher said those new restrictions would apply to people already in Wisconsin and waiting to present their cases to immigration officials.

“You are not protected by the rules the moment you sign up,” he said. “It will be a big change.”

Byron Chaveza 28-year-old asylum seeker from Nicaragua, living in Whitewater since 2022. He has applied for asylum and is awaiting his case with the government.

He said he fled government oppression and human rights violations in Nicaragua. Since coming to Wisconsin, Chavez said he has fallen in love with Whitewater and wants to make it his permanent home.

“The community is very friendly. … You have everything you need and everything is close by,” he said. “The diversity you have here really makes Whitewater a nice place.”

If he gets an asylum hearing after Trump takes office, Chavez says he is hopeful the government will listen to him and grant him asylum.

“I’m a little more concerned because I think the immigration law will be stricter,” he said. “But otherwise I like to stick to the book. I’m doing things the way they should be, and hopefully that speaks to my desire to be here. I want to do things the right way.”

Listen to the WPR report

‘Our community is terrified’: Wisconsin immigrants brace for threat of mass deportations was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.