EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A host of local and national organizations preparing to counter executive orders signed this week by President Donald Trump say immigrants are vital to the social and economic fabric of communities.
So, while groups like the American Civil Liberties Union are suing, others will be reaching out to local, state and federal partners. The goal is to prevent profiling, family separation, labor shortages, government overreach and to provide legal resources so migrants with asylum claims or an extensive work history and family ties in the U.S. can stay in the country.
Trump on Monday shut down online asylum applications and directed federal agencies to prioritize the prosecution and removal of foreigners who came into the country illegally. He called for shoring up detention capabilities, ordered undocumented immigrants to register with the federal government and invoked emergency powers to utilize the military on the border.
But Trump’s threat of mass deportations is likely to have the most wide-reaching effect, advocates said.
“We will be working with state and local officials to help migrants understand they have rights, such as legal representation and the right to remain silent, and what to do if they encounter ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement),” said Shayna Kessler, initiative director of the Vera Institute of Justice, a Brooklyn-based advocacy organization.
Legal awareness is important because the Trump administration is likely to rely on a process called expedited removal for quick results, she said. He can do this if a person already has a deportation order and fails to contest it or if a migrant apprehended at the border agrees to it in order to avoid lengthy detention.
ACLU Deputy Director Naureen Shah said the organization has filed a lawsuit to prevent the administration from denying U.S. citizenship to the children of immigrants in the country illegally and even some legal residents. She said that’s unconstitutional.
What also worries her are the fears the Trump discourse and actions are creating not only in immigrant communities but also among local government officials.
The latter has to do with threats to withhold federal funds to immigrant “sanctuary” cities and to nonprofits whose contracts are “determined to be in violation of law or to be sources of waste, fraud or abuse.”
She said Trump’s threats against cities is meant to coerce them into cooperating with his deportation agenda.
The advocates said deportations will backfire on the economy, as they will result in labor shortages and absenteeism of farmworkers, construction workers, restaurant employees and others afraid to show up to work for fear of detention.
Trump appointees have hinted schools and hospitals will no longer be off limits to immigration officers, so children could stop going to school and those caught in medical emergencies may hesitate to seek care.
The immigrant community “is very, very fearful – not only for them but for the people that they love, people that they know,” said Crystal Sandoval, director of cross-border strategies at Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso. “I have some friends that are teachers; they’re worried about their students; they’re worried about the parents of the students and even how the demeanor of the community is going to change.”
Sandoval urges migrants and those close to them to stay informed about what exactly is happening – not to be overly fearful but also to get reliable legal advice.
Robyn Barnard, senior director of refugee advocacy for Human Rights First, said the shut down of CBP One online appointments will place asylum-seekers in the hands of smugglers.
“We saw images of people in desperation […] Hopes were crushed as (Trump) was taking the oath,” Barnard said. “Our laws require CBP to (receive asylum-seekers) even if they don’t have appointments but we know they routinely turn them away. What this does is puts them in the hands of smugglers and through dangerous paths and places them in deportation procedures if they do that.”
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