Some families in United States prepare for mass deportations

Some families in United States prepare for mass deportations

MIAMI
Some families in United States prepare for mass deportations

Parents around Nora Sanidgo's large, rectangular dining table had lunch before signing documents to make the Nicaraguan immigrant a legal guardian of their children, entrusting them to her if they are deported.

She gave a list of what to carry with them: birth certificates, medical and school records, immigration documents, her phone number.

“Talk to your children and tell them what can happen, let them have my phone number on hand, let them learn it, let them record it,” Sandigo said.

For the group at Sandigo's southwest Miami home and for millions in the United States illegally or with temporary legal status, the start of Donald Trump's second term as president comes with a feeling that their time in the U.S. may end soon.

Trump made mass deportations a signature issue of his campaign and has promised a raft of first-day orders to remake immigration policy.

“You don’t have to be afraid, you have to be prepared,” Sandigo told the group of about 20 people, including small children, who watched a demonstration of how to respond if immigration officers knock on their door. “Take precautions wherever you are.”

Plans for deportation arrests appeared to be in flux after news leaked of an operation in Chicago last week.

Trump's “border czar” Tom Homan said on Fox News that Chicago was “not off the table, but we’re reconsidering when and how we do it.” He said the leak raised concerns about officer safety.

So-called sanctuary cities, which limit how local police cooperate with federal immigration authorities, have been a favorite Trump target, especially Chicago.

Reports that his initial push would be in the nation's third-largest city brought a new sense of urgency and fear.

Chicago became a sanctuary city in the 1980s and has beefed up policies since, including after Trump first took office in 2017.

Last week, the City Council heartily rejected a longshot plan calling for exceptions allowing local police to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on deportation cases for people accused or convicted of crimes.

The Rev. Homero Sanchez said he didn’t realize the depth of fear in the Chicago immigrant community he serves until someone asked him to handle the sale of their family’s home and other finances if they are picked up after Trump takes office.

ICE arrests a fraction of targets in its street operations, though Trump is expected to cast a wider net than President Joe Biden, whose focus on picking up people away from the border was largely limited to those with serious criminal histories or who pose a risk to national security.

Biden’s administration also ended the practice of mass worksite arrests , which were common under Trump, including a 2019 operation targeting Mississippi chicken plants.

Trump aides have said immigration officers will arrest others, such as spouses or roommates, who are not targets but happen to be in the country illegally.

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