New York state has an estimated 835,000 undocumented immigrants, with a large proportion of them coming from Latin America. As the dust settles from the 2024 election, immigrant New Yorkers fear how Donald Trump’s second term will impact them.
Many still recall the separation of families during his first term, and fears they could be deported at any time.
Theo Oshiro, co-executive director of Make the Road New York, said those fears have returned since Trump is promising mass deportations of undocumented immigrants starting on day one.
“Not only are we talking about the threat of deportation, which is of course top of mind and the top fear of many of our people,” said Oshiro, “but actual just physical violence on the street that really was something that had increased, in our experience, during the Trump administration.”
He adds the organization held legal clinics during Trump’s first term in office so immigrants could assign guardianship of their kids if they were suddenly deported.
This comes as a judge ruled the Biden administration’s Keeping Families Together program is illegal, putting 20,000 New York families at risk of separation.
Trump’s mass-deportation plan could cost up to $1.7 billion over a decade, and have vaster impacts than the Great Recession.
With Inauguration Day a few months away, Oshiro said he feels the state must enact common-sense protections for immigrants.
These range from health-care coverage for immigrants to whether local agencies collaborate with immigration enforcement agencies.
While there might be challenges to implement them, he said it’s cost-effective to do so.
“In the example of health care, we know it’s actually too expensive for our state to not care for immigrant communities,” said Oshiro. “That actually impacts our state in negative ways. So we know that these common-sense solutions are the right thing to do but they’re also fiscally responsible.”
Estimates show New York State is planning to spend more than $4 billion between 2022 and 2026 in emergency spending on migrants. Current spending is estimated at around $690 million.
But, the New York City Comptroller’s office estimates passing coverage for all will generate $710 million in annual benefits.
Cover Photo: President-elect Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportation of immigrants means the U.S. loses out on $22.6 billion and $5.7 billion in Social Security and Medicare contributions, respectively. (Adobe Stock)
Publisher’s Notes: Immigrant NYers fear what lies ahead in 2nd Trump term, babies was first published by Public News Service, and republished with permission.
Part of LNN’s mission is to amplify the work of others in providing greater visibility and voice to Hispanic, Latino communities.