Anguish in an immigrant shelter due to mass deportations: “We are all afraid here”

For them, as for the rest of the country, the US has changed drastically in two days. Donald Trump was sworn in on Monday and has been quick to show that his threats with irregular immigration – the chaos at the border was one of his great campaign assets – were not a bluff. He has put strong-arm figures at the head of immigration agencies, he has signed executive orders to bring the border into line. Over the heads of these two Dominicans, like that of millions of other undocumented immigrants, hangs the threat of the “largest deportation program in US history.”

«We have real concern. One came with a dream to this country and things get complicated. “We have to see how President Trump takes office,” says one of them who, logically, does not want to give his name. “Call me Captain Will,” and he gestures as if he were a reggaeton artist, with his face covered by a balaclava and hood, in good spirits. But a cloud of fog comes out of his mouth – it’s -7 degrees today in Brooklyn – and words of anguish. “There are people who are not going to work, who are not taking their children to school,” says his colleague about the precautions that some are taking in the face of the possibility of ‘la migra’, as they call ICE here, the police of immigration and customs.

Tension in communities with a large presence of undocumented immigrants has been growing as Trump’s inauguration date approached. “There is a lot of anxiety among people here,” says Rachel – not her real name -, a volunteer who has been collaborating at this shelter for a year and a half. «There are people with sleeping problems, traumatized. There is panic, fear and rumors are spreading about alleged raids on a shelter like this, but in Chicago, or about arrests here in Queens.

A couple of days before he was sworn into office, Trump’s transition team leaked that the presidency would be inaugurated with a massive raid in Chicago. This operation would send a message: goodbye to impunity with the presence of undocumented immigrants. Chicago – like New York – is one of those considered ‘sanctuary cities’: controlled by Democrats, they refuse to cooperate with federal authorities for the persecution, arrest and mass deportation of immigrants.

That raid did not happen, but many are aware that it could happen anywhere and at any time. Trump needs a spectacular arrest operation to fulfill what he said, to please his voters. The new president has promised “millions and millions” of deportations. In his equivocal style, he sometimes indicates that all undocumented immigrants will be expelled. But also that the priority will be those with criminal records.

“We are complying, we are not doing anything wrong, what is going to happen to us?” says a third, Venezuelan, from this Brooklyn sidewalk covered in ice and delivery ‘scooters’, one of the ways that many immigrants have found to make some money. Others say that they are having a hard time finding work, that New York is very difficult, very expensive. They share a joint – legal in New York for years -, discuss a colleague’s new ‘scooter’ and watch TikTok to find out what’s going on.

It happens that that same day the Trump Administration has acted directly against the ‘sanctuary cities’. The Department of Justice sent a directive to all its employees reminding them of the obligation of state and local authorities to “comply with executive branch immigration initiatives.” And he threatens to prosecute – and if convicted, send to prison – any senior official who refuses to do so.

This will be the first battle of the war between the Trump Administration and local Democratic immigration authorities, who have already insisted that they will not cooperate and that, on the contrary, they will try to hinder the mass deportation program through the courts.

“We have to stay calm,” says Tony, a Venezuelan immigrant at the doors of his shelter in Brooklyn. But their situation is increasingly unpredictable. And that’s largely due to the changing positions of New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, a former police captain who came to power on a tough-on-crime message and is in trouble. He is being pursued by several corruption investigations. One of his outings has been to get closer to Trump: he went to visit Mar-a-Lago, his mansion on the Florida coast, and received an invitation to his inauguration, something very rare for a Democrat. Now, Adams has said that local authorities will cooperate with ‘la migra’, although without making clear to what extent.

“I don’t know if we can trust that New York will continue to be a ‘sanctuary city, it’s a confusing time,'” the volunteer says.

Hispanic immigrants are not the only ones who occupy this shelter in Brooklyn. “We are all afraid here,” says Rick (not his real name), an immigrant from Senegal, in French, surrounded by a group of compatriots. “A plan if the police come? To go to the church where I work.”

Maybe you should look for another one. The same day he said it, the Trump Administration announced that it was ending a practice established until now whereby ICE does not make arrests in places considered “sensitive”, such as churches or schools.

Many undocumented immigrants try to keep their lives normal. “Miguelito, do you think they are going to deport you?” jokes Edwin, an Ecuadorian construction worker, without papers, with a partner on the construction site. They are building a skyscraper near the UN headquarters, three blocks from the tower of the man who has promised to expel them, Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. «I am calm. I’ve been here 22 years. Now that my daughters have grown up in Ecuador, I have already helped them pay for their university. If they deport me, I’ll go to the heat,” he tells this newspaper. «If there start to be raids in workplaces, people will start to worry. But of the 600 who work in this building, I would say that 60% are undocumented and pay taxes. Who is going to finish it? Miguelito, glued to his cell phone during his work break, does not answer.