Advocates train immigrants to 'prepare to stay' in the US under Trump

LOS ANGELES — 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 colorful 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 Center 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 Center'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.

In New Haven, Connecticut, immigrant advocates have been holding sessions in high schools.

“That’s because they’ve reached out to us to request it,” said Rachel Doft, director of legal services for Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services. “A lot of kids have questions, and especially kids in mixed-status families. They’re really afraid of (Trump’s deportation plan) and want to understand their rights.”

In Chicago, immigration attorney Fiona McEntee said advocates learned a lot during Trump's prior administration, including better ways to organize. She was among hundreds of lawyers who provided free legal services to immigrants at O’Hare International Airport in January 2017, after Trump temporarily banned refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

“As much as we didn’t want to be here again, we’re more experienced,” McEntee said. “We are different immigration lawyers than we were eight years ago.”

In Los Angeles, Julie Gomez, 50, sat and listened attentively to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights workshop, filming key snippets on her cellphone. She came with an Armenian community member who needs help, and Gomez wants to learn and prepare so she can spread the word to others in her Guatemalan community. While she said she doesn’t have reason to worry about Trump's immigration proposals, she knows many people who do.

“They’re obviously worried because they could be deported and what would happen to their children?” Gomez said. “Confused, and worried.”

Leiva, who manages community education programs at CHIRLA, spent more than an hour spelling out what immigrants should and shouldn't do if contacted by federal authorities. He said they should put all their important documents in one place and save money in case they need a lawyer. And if they are detained by authorities, Leiva said they should provide their name and birthdate — but nothing more — so relatives can look them up in an immigration detention database.

“Do not make their job easy,” Leiva told the group. “They have a job. You have a right.”