Fear grips migrant families on both sides of the California-Mexico border over Trump deportations

Perched outside one of the nearly 40 tents at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Emir Mejía smiles as she gently rocks her 15-day-old granddaughter. This has been her family’s home for over six months as they await an appointment to seek asylum in the United States.

The night before, her joy at welcoming her seventh granddaughter quickly turned to concern as U.S. voters elected former President Donald Trump to a second term in the White House, where he has promised mass deportations.

The fear and uncertainty Mejia and her family now face is shared with many migrants waiting in shelters for their turn to present their cases to U.S. officials — but also with nearly 2 million already living in California.

“Maybe a lot of people don’t understand,” she said in Spanish. “We don’t want to cross (to the U.S.) for pleasure, but to protect our lives.”

Emir Mejía, left, and Lorena Gómez cook at Movimiento Juventud 2000 on Wednesday in Tijuana, Baja California. Mejía and her family left Michoacán due to violence. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 

Trump has always taken a tough stance on immigration — something that resonated with his supporters.

During his previous tenure, he replaced the old U.S.-Mexico border fence with a taller one and launched the Migrant Protection Protocols, a policy that sent asylum seekers back to Mexico to await their hearings. The Biden administration ended that practice.

During the height of the pandemic, the Trump administration also enacted a policy known as Title 42, which allowed officials to expel migrants without screening their asylum claims, on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. Although the policy remained in place for the first years of the Biden administration, it was lifted in May 2023.

This time Trump campaigned heavily on securing the border and mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. “We’re gonna have to seal up those borders,” Trump reiterated this week during his victory speech. “We want people to come back in, but we have to let them come back in. But they have to come in legally.”

Mejía, 45, said they “want to do things right” and have not considered other options to cross because they don’t want to put themselves in a risky situation.

Asylum hopes remain despite uncertainty

José María García, director of the Juventud 2000 migrant shelter in Tijuana, described the mood at the site as “a state of fear, anxiety and uncertainty.”

Migrants stay at Movimiento Juventud 2000 on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 in Tijuana, Baja California. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Migrants stay at Movimiento Juventud 2000 on Wednesday in Tijuana. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 

“They knew things were about to change,” he added, referring to Wednesday morning, when many found out about the outcome of the election.

Three miles away, at the Casa del Migrante shelter, it’s a similar scenario. People have been asking, “What’s going to happen?” since election night, said Pat Murphy, a priest who is the shelter’s director. “There’s a lot of questions,” he said.

Ramón Torres, 18, also from Michoacán, has been waiting for an appointment in Tijuana for three months.

Ramón Torres, 18, stays at Casa del Migrante on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 in Tijuana, Baja California. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Ramón Torres, 18, is staying at Casa del Migrante in Tijuana. He has been waiting for an asylum appointment for three months. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 

Torres, who works for a construction company while he waits at the shelter with his family, said they are now considering the possibility of staying in Tijuana. “If we don’t get an appointment between now and January, we could explore the possibility of staying here,” he said. But he said their hope is to seek asylum in the U.S., and reunite with his father.

Both migrant shelters in Tijuana visited by the Union-Tribune said they’ve recently seen an increase in those arriving to the shelters after being deported.

In June the Biden administration implemented an executive order restricting asylum and imposed stricter consequences for those who cross without authorization.

As a result, migrant encounters decreased along the southwestern border by 55%, and deportations increased, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s latest data. From June through the end of September, the Department of Homeland Security removed or returned more than 160,000 individuals to over 145 countries.

The directors of both shelters also said they could expect more people to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border in the weeks leading up to Trump’s inauguration. The Biden administration is already making contingency plans for a potential spike, according to an NBC News report.

A CBP spokesperson said Friday that “while border encounters remain at historic lows, CBP remains vigilant to constantly shifting migration patterns.” 

“Migrants should not believe the lies of smugglers. The fact remains: The United States continues to enforce immigration law. Individuals who enter the U.S. unlawfully between ports of entry will continue to be quickly removed,” the spokesperson added. 

Officials said that DHS leadership regularly holds meetings to discuss border operations, and these include ongoing contingency planning and preparedness.

Trump’s promise of mass deportation could potentially impact California more than any other state.

Adisbeth Arteaga serves dinner to migrants at Casa del Migrante on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 in Tijuana, Baja California. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Adisbeth Arteaga serves dinner to migrants at Casa del Migrante in Tijuana. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 

There were about 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. as of 2022, the latest year for which federal and Pew Research Center estimates are available. About 1.8 million of them lived in California, according to Pew, more than any other state — even though California’s share of the U.S.’s undocumented immigrant population has decreased in recent years.

Undocumented immigrants made up about 4.5% of the state’s total population and 17% of all California’s immigrants, according to Pew’s estimates. About 9% of K-12 students in California have at least one parent who is an undocumented immigrant.

The population of undocumented immigrants has likely grown since 2022, Pew researchers say, as the U.S. backlog of asylum cases has more than doubled from about 500,000 in mid-2022 to more than 1.1 million at the end of 2023. In the past two years the Biden administration has also allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Ukraine, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to temporarily reside in the U.S. as parolees via humanitarian programs.

Many welcome Trump’s more strict immigration policy.

In mid-September, county Supervisor Jim Desmond told lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee in Washington that the arrival of so many migrants has strained the county’s resources and raised concerns about how people entering the country were being screened for security threats.

Now that Trump has been re-elected, Desmond said those concerns will likely subside.

“I’m looking forward to not having hundreds of thousands of unchecked people from around the world being dropped in the streets of San Diego County,” he said Friday in a statement. “I’m looking forward to not having boats being driven up upon our beaches and dozens of unchecked people from around the world walking into our neighborhoods.”

‘We are very scared’

At Perkins K-8 in Barrio Logan, where 40 percent of the school’s more than 300 students speak a native language other than English, some parents are frightened.

In the past two years Perkins has seen an increase of families enrolling at the school who fled unrest and violence in their home countries in Central and South America, especially Venezuela. The school has been working not just to teach them English, but has supported them as they heal from the traumas they experienced on their journey here and helped them find housing, supplies and other resources.

Principal Fernando Hernández has heard from some Perkins families who are fearful of being deported or having their work permits revoked under a Trump administration.

Zulynel Ferrer, an asylum seeker from Venezuela, walk with her 7-year-old daughter Ashley at Perkins K-8 School on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024 in San Diego, California. Ferrer and her family are awaiting their hearing which is set for 2027.(Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Zulynel Ferrer, an asylum seeker from Venezuela, walks with her 7-year-old daughter at Perkins K-8 School on Friday in San Diego. Ferrer and her family are awaiting their hearing, which is set for 2027. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) 

FOLLOW US ON GOOGLE NEWS

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! Todays Chronic is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials, please contact us by email – todayschronic.com. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.

Leave a Comment