Trump’s deportation plans worry families with relatives in the United States illegally

PHOENIX — Jocelyn Ruiz remembers when her fifth grade teacher warned the class about large-scale projects. patrols that would target immigrants in Arizona’s largest metropolitan area. She asked her mother about it and discovered a family secret.

Ruiz’s mother had entered the United States illegally and left Mexico a decade earlier in search of a better life.

Ruiz, who was born in California and grew up in the Phoenix area, at the time was plagued by concern that her mother could be deported at any moment, despite having no criminal record. Ruiz, his two younger brothers and his parents quietly persevered, never discussing their mixed immigration status. They lived “like Americans,” he said.

More than 22 million people live in an American household where at least one occupant is in the country illegally, according to an analysis from the Pew Research Center from 2022 census data. That represents almost 5% of households across the United States and 5.5% in Arizona, a battleground state where the Latino vote could be key.

If Donald Trump is elected and fulfills his campaign promise to carry out The largest deportation operation in United States history.Not only could it disrupt the lives of the 11 million people the U.S. Census Bureau estimates are living in the United States illegally, but it could also devastate U.S. citizens in their families.

He immigration issue has been a cornerstone of Trump’s platform since he promised to “build a big wall” in 2015 when he announced his first Republican campaign for president. and despite survey showing Although the economy is a top concern for voters, Trump remains obsessed with the issue, criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border as an existential threat to American society as Day of the Dead approaches. elections.

Trump’s plans to crack down have motivated some mixed-status families to speak out. America’s success depends on the contributions of immigrants, they argue, and the people who do this work deserve a path to legal residency or citizenship.

Others choose to remain silent, hoping to evade attention.

And there are some who support Trump, although they themselves could become targets for deportation.

The political divide on immigration is deep: 88% of Trump supporters favor mass deportation, according to a recent Pew surveycompared to 27% of voters who support Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate.

When he visited the Arizona-Mexico border in August, Trump was asked about the impact so many deportations would have on mixed-status families.

“Action will be taken, but we have to take out the criminals,” Trump responded. NBC News. He did not say what the provisions might include, and his campaign did not share more information when The Associated Press asked for details.

Living in a mixed-status family is inherently precarious, as immigration policies and political rhetoric have knock-on effects for U.S. citizens and legal residents, said Heide Castañeda, an anthropology professor at the University of South Florida.

“For most Americans, it is not familiar to navigate their daily lives thinking about the possibility of someone in their family being taken away,” said Castañeda, author of “Borders of Belonging: Struggle and Solidarity in Mixed-Status Immigrant Families.” ”. “But for mixed-status families, of course, that’s always on their minds.”

Politicians, he said, “think they are addressing a particular group, but these groups live in families, communities, homes and neighborhoods.”

According to Pew, in Nevada, California, New Jersey and Texas, nearly one in 10 households includes people living in the United States without legal permission. Many have lived in the country for decades and have American citizens who depend on them.

Michael Kagan, director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said the new arrivals are not representative of the Nevada population.

“The vast majority have been here more than 10 years,” Kagan said, warning that their U.S. citizen relatives could be swept up inadvertently.

Erika Andriola, 37, a longtime immigrant advocate in Arizona, witnessed the detention of her mother and brother by immigration agents in 2013. She ran a successful campaign that led to their release, but now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and separation anxiety as a result of that day.

“They were like constant nightmares. I would wake up crying,” Andriola said. She and her brother are now legal residents, but their mother, 66, has been challenging their deportation in court since 2017.

It’s an experience Andriola wouldn’t wish on anyone, and he says the emotional and economic costs can affect entire communities.

Betzaida Robinson’s brother was deported to Mexico several years ago despite never having lived there. An integral member of the family in Phoenix, he had helped pay the bills and raise their two children.

Robinson said Trump and his supporters should not think about what it’s like to have a loved one taken away from them.

“What if you were in that position, what would you do and how would you feel?” she said.

Still, there are people living in the country illegally who do support Trump, said Castañeda, the university professor. Even Andriola says he has family members who do it.

“They’re not necessarily thinking about what could happen to people like my mom,” Andriola said, “but they’re thinking about their own lives and what they think is best for them.”

Victoria Castro-Corral describes herself as an optimist from a mixed-status family in Phoenix who mentors students at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. He said he has faith that a mass deportation plan will never be implemented, and credits his Mexican parents, who crossed the border illegally decades ago, for teaching him how to stay positive.

“We are here to stay,” he said.

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Gabriel Sandoval is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.