Advocates train immigrants 'to stay' in US under Trump

Los Angeles, Dec. 21: Winston Leiva rattles off a long list of things immigrants should do to protect themselves against President-elect Donald Trump's promise to conduct mass deportations when he returns to the White House.

Make a plan for someone to care for your children if you are arrested. Don't open the door unless authorities slip a signed judicial warrant under it. And above all, exercise your right to remain silent.

“We already know this administration,” Leiva told participants of a bilingual workshop in Los Angeles for immigrants who want to stay in the United States. “The truth is we don’t know to what extent it will affect us."

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights meeting, in a conference room decorated with a colourful mural of civil rights icons and a large American flag, is one of many taking place nationwide as immigrant advocates steel themselves for Trump’s second term. It’s déjà vu for those who sprung to action during Trump's first four years, when he changed the nation’s immigration system arguably more than any other U.S. president.

Advocacy groups from Utah to Massachusetts have hosted know-your-rights trainings to teach immigrants how to protect themselves, their friends and families from Trump’s promise to start deportations on his first day back in office. The efforts are underway in immigrant-friendly states including California and Illinois — which both enacted protections for immigrants in response to Trump's focus on enforcement during his first administration — and those with more stringent laws affecting immigrants such as Florida.

Connecticut Students for a Dream, an advocacy group for undocumented youth, recently held a session in the city of Danbury, which is home to immigrants from Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere. Organizers advised that you don't have to speak with immigration agents if they knock on your door, and warned in a Facebook post: “If you choose to speak, remember not to lie.”

Advocates are also urging those who are eligible to complete applications for U.S. citizenship or other immigration benefits before next year, aiming to avoid potentially lengthy wait times under an incoming administration that seems focused on immigration enforcement rather than integration.

The Florida Immigrant Coalition is offering free clinics to help thousands of immigrants who may have a pathway to a legal status and can't afford a lawyer. Inside an already busy immigration court in Chicago, National Immigrant Justice Centre attorneys who help run a legal help desk said they are trying to resolve as many cases as possible before Trump takes office.

“It feels a little different because we have a clear expectation of what is coming,” said Lisa Koop, the Centre’s national director of legal services. “It is demoralizing that the electorate lived through what happened last time and decided to go back to it.”

The Trump campaign has said the president-elect will start the largest deportation program in U.S. history during his second administration, but questions remain about how he will find and detain people.

Fear is widespread in immigrant communities. Advocates say they're fielding calls from immigrants with and without legal status and even from naturalized U.S. citizens worried about how the administration could affect them and their families — especially the American-born children of parents who wind up deported. Advocates are urging families to draft legal papers in case this happens.

“We know that separation is an issue, and we want to make sure that families are prepared for who takes care of their children, who takes care of their property,” said Renata Bozzetto, deputy director at the Florida Immigrant Coalition. (AP)