Wisconsin immigrants prepare for mass deportations: ‘Our community is terrified’

MADISON, WI – President-elect Donald Trump’s recent confirmation of plans to declare a national emergency to facilitate mass deportations has heightened fears among Wisconsin’s undocumented immigrants.

These concerns are further heightened by reports of private landowners in Texas offering their properties as staging areas for these deportation efforts, according to an investigation. story from Associated Press.

Fernanda Jimenez, a 24-year-old Racine resident, 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.

Earlier this year, Jimenez graduated from 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 former President Donald Trump won his bid to return to the White House in this year’s presidential race with campaign promises of mass deportations of undocumented residents.

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 deportations is being taken seriously.”

Trump plans to make good on the promise of mass deportations

On the campaign trail, Trump promised it mass deportations, the largest 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.

Immigrant rights group plans organizing 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 Dane County to plan next steps to address the threat of mass deportations, according to Christine Neumann-Ortiz. founder 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 the group plans 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 through mass deportations.

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

David Najera, Hispanic outreach coordinator for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, does not share 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.

---

Local news

The Racine County Eye is your source for local news that serves our diverse communities. Subscribe today to stay up to date with local news.

Follow us on Facebook: Racine County Eye to ensure you receive the latest news.