By Damariz Arevalo, Dec. 10, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump promised to carry out the largest deportation in American history. Coming from an immigrant family, it hurt to see many Latinos disregard Trump’s comments about illegal immigrants and showed their support on election day.
According to NBC News, about 45% of Latinos voted for Trump because they believe he could fix the economy. Furthermore, Marcos Scauso, a political science assistant professor, said Latinos who came as immigrants, and now U.S. citizens, have complained about other immigrants coming into the country.
“One of them is gatekeeping,” Scauso said. “This tendency to exclude others is coming from the Latino community that has already become a citizen and doesn’t want others to have the same possibility or opportunity.”
Many Latino families have faith Trump will only deport the immigrants who have a criminal record. Trump added the promise of fixing the economy, and many Latinos have been affected by the high cost of living. They want change.
As soon Trump regains office, he claimed he will use the U.S. military to enforce mass deportation. His plan is to target specific groups of immigrants, according to Scripps News.
Mass deportation not only targets the Latino community but all immigrants.
My family are immigrants, they have all worked hard to have a good life and regardless of how they came to the country, it doesn’t define who they are. It felt like a betrayal that people who came illegally and are now U.S. citizens, have voted for a man that wants to take that opportunity away from others.
There is fear within my family members of how a mass deportation could affect us. I’m worried for my family. My aunts and uncles have been in the U.S. over 30 years, and they have a home, steady income and they pay taxes. They are worried about deportation because they are here illegally. If deported, they would go back to a country that is no longer considered as home and their children would have no choice but to go with them to a country they have never been before.
Close friends and relatives are going through the same emotions because Trump is not going only after those with a criminal record but also immigrants who came illegally
We don’t know when or how it will happen. There are so many years of sacrificing and working hard to be part of a country that just wants to send them back. Personally, knowing people who came to this country with nothing and now being U.S. citizens have turned their back on their own people. Forgetting their experiences on how hard it is to find work, make a living and provide for yourself or family back in their country. It has ended friendships between friends and family.
Their fears could become reality after Trump’s appointment of Tom Homan as “border czar.” Homan, who is the former acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, plans to send “twice as many” ICE agents to Los Angeles, according to Newsweek.
According to Scauso, Homan is soulless, and he believes Homan will apply the same kind of zero tolerance toward immigrants since he doesn’t care about the criminalization of immigrants and separation of children from their parents.
Trump also desires to go after immigrants with legal status and move toward the denaturalization of U.S.-born children of immigrants, which is ending birthright citizenship in the U.S.
This would go against the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
Though repealing an amendment may be unlikely, there is still fear. In June 2022, Trump was able to overturn Roe v. Wade. He has the means to make the impossible possible.
The foreshadowing of mass deportations is real, and it has happened before.
Operation Wetback occurred in 1953. Mexicans were rounded up to be deported back to Mexico, but not all deportees were immigrants. Some were legal citizens, and others were U.S.-born citizens.
Tens and thousands of immigrants were shoved into buses, boats and planes and sent to Mexico.
Knowing this, Trump’s plan should be taken seriously. Trump is going after all immigrants, including immigrants with visas to work in the U.S.
If this were to happen, the agriculture industry would be hindered, and a shortage of farm workers would create a higher cost of goods in supermarkets due to a shortage of farm workers.
Cal Poly Pomona has resources for students who have questions or concerns, such as Undocumented Students Services and the Care Center.
Students are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which protects students’ privacy. It is against the law for a professor to report the immigration status of students.
“I know that a lot of us are going to be putting our bodies into the possibility of supporting students,” said Scauso. “Resisting exclusionary deporting and racist policies, whatever they come from.”
Trump will be back in office, and all we can do is prepare for what might come. The U.S. will feel the downfall of the economy if a mass deportation occurs, but all we can do is wait.
Feature image courtesy of Kerwin Elias
