As Trump vows mass deportations, immigrant rights groups brace for action

Immigrant rights organizations spent months preparing for the possibility of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Now, anticipating a wave of deportations and sweeping policy changes from day one of his presidency, immigrant rights groups are hosting workshops to educate immigrants about their rights, expediting the filing of immigration paperwork and calling on local governments to bolster protections for immigrant communities.

Other groups are working to expand representation in deportation proceedings and readying legal challenges to the executive orders and policy changes Trump is expected to use to fulfill his pledge to carry out “the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.”

Unlike the Biden administration, which prioritizes deporting undocumented immigrants considered threats to national security and public safety, Trump and his newly appointed “border czar,” Tom Homan, have signaled that all 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. would be targeted for deportation, casting immigrants as dangerous criminals.

Litigation to stymie his immigration agenda is already underway. While Trump was still on the campaign trail, legal groups scrutinized his immigration promises in order to identify potential legal challenges that could be brought against his anticipated policies. On Nov. 18, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit seeking details on how ICE might use air travel to carry out mass deportations under Trump.

“For months, the ACLU has been preparing for the possibility of a mass detention and deportation program, and [Freedom of Information Act] litigation has been a central part of our roadmap,” Kyle Virgien, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “A second Trump administration underscores the urgency of our litigation.”

Many groups see Trump’s first term as a “blueprint” for how to respond. Legal challenges successfully blocked several of his first term immigration policies, with courts striking down the “zero-tolerance” policy that led to family separations at the border and the initial “Muslim Ban” executive order.

Still, Trump appears poised to escalate his first-term immigration policies to unprecedented levels. A sign of how far he might go came on Nov. 18, when he confirmed his intention to declare a national emergency to deploy the military for the deportation effort, despite prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. Immigrant rights groups have said they are prepared to respond with legal action.

“We have spent the last nine months planning for this, and are prepared to go to court as often as necessary, just like the first time,” Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the ACLU, told the New York Times.

But if the administration can argue that the military is being used in a support role, for which there are exceptions, the use of the military could stand up in court, Reuters reports. Trump might, for instance, direct the military to build detention facilities along the southern border.

Advocacy groups say state and local governments also play a vital role in protecting immigrants. Bruna Sollod, the Senior Political Director at the youth immigrant network United We Dream, urged city council members, mayors and governors to take “decisive action now to deliver protections to immigrants in their communities who will be targets of Trump’s plans.” That could include ensuring that local law enforcement resources are not allocated or appropriated by federal immigration authorities, and looking for ways to limit data sharing with ICE.

The 24 Democratic state attorneys general have already announced they would work as a unified front to block the Trump administration’s immigration policies, citing his first term as a blueprint. Speaking to Politico, the attorneys general also said they were ready to challenge Trump if he attempts to federalize the National Guard, which operates under state control.

In addition to preparing for high-stakes legal battles around Trump’s policies, immigrant rights groups are also organizing on the ground to provide direct support to immigrants.

Many have started hosting “know your rights” workshops to educate immigrants about how Trump’s proposed policies could affect them and what to expect during interactions with law enforcement officials. As Homan has announced the return of workplace raids, which were halted during the Biden administration, families are being urged to create plans for childcare and asset management in case of detention for deportation.

“Undocumented parents will often hide their status from their kids to protect them or out of shame, but it’s important to have frank family discussions and plan for worst-case scenarios together,” Jean Guerrero, who has written extensively about the southern border, advised in an L.A. Times column.

Immigration lawyers are speeding up the process of submitting applications, concerned that the new administration could slow down or suspend the processing of visas, work permits and family petitions. During Trump’s previous term, applications were often rejected for minor bureaucratic errors, such as leaving a space blank instead of writing “N/A.”

“I tell my clients that I’m submitting their applications, but that the law could change at any time,” Cristina Salazar, an immigration attorney who works in Texas, told KERA News. “And that’s why now ... our workflow is going to be different because we want to submit everything as soon as possible, definitely before inauguration.”

Oasis Legal Group, which serves LGBTQ+ asylum seekers fleeing persecution, is hosting emergency clinics to help immigrants navigate paperwork in the small window of time left before Trump’s inauguration.

“Our team is taking action to support our community right now, and will file as many asylum applications and work permits as we can for qualifying LGBTQ+ immigrants before January 17,” the organization wrote in a recent blog post.

Even as legal groups brace for a second showdown over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program –– which shields around 530,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and is targeted for termination by Trump –– organizations are encouraging people to renew their DACA and naturalize if eligible.

The United Farm Workers Foundation has been hosting renewal workshops across the Central Valley since before the election. A message on the sign-up form for a recent renewal workshop in Fresno read, “We understand the confusion surrounding DACA at the moment but we would like to ask you to stay on top of your renewal.”

Despite the efforts of immigrant rights and legal groups to challenge Trump’s policies and advocate for immigrants’ right to remain in the U.S., however, scores of people will likely be swept up in detention and deportation efforts if the administration goes through with its plans.

Immigrants rights groups, bracing for an onslaught of deportation defense cases, are working to expand representation in immigration court. In Southern California, the Immigration Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), a nonprofit law firm that provides legal services to immigrants, has been increasing representation for immigrants by recruiting and training lawyers interested in providing deportation defense pro-bono.

“We have dozens of lawyers now who provide deportation defense, some funded by the County and the City of Los Angeles who are ready to stand up and defend our communities,” Lindsay Toczylowkski, ImmDef’s executive director, told KCRW after the election.

There is no federal right to a government-funded attorney in immigration court and a 2016 American Immigration Council study of government data found that only 37 percent of all immigrants and 14 percent of detained immigrants had legal representation, a rate that has since dropped as case numbers have skyrocketed. Represented immigrants are up to ten times more likely to establish a right to remain in the U.S. according to the Vera Institute of Justice.

Vera has been working to create publicly funded universal representation programs at local and state levels in collaboration with governments, legal service providers and advocates. Initially established in only a few cities, the Safety & Fairness for Everyone Network (SAFE) has since grown to include 55 jurisdictions where immigrants have universal representation.

There is no federal right to a government-funded attorney in immigration court and a 2016 American Immigration Council study of government data found that only 37 percent of all immigrants and 14 percent of detained immigrants had legal representation, a rate that has since dropped. Represented immigrants are up to ten times more likely to establish a right to remain in the U.S. according to Vera.

A concern is that the Trump administration’s mass deportation machine will bypass or ignore procedural protections embedded in the removal process. The ACLU writes that the first Trump administration “took one step in this direction in 2019, issuing a rule that attempted to expand fast-track ‘expedited removal’ procedures — which drastically curtail the ability of immigrants to defend against deportation.”

While the rule was largely unused due to ACLU-led litigation, Trump’s second term could see renewed efforts to implement similar measures and protecting immigrants’ rights to due process is expected to be another major legal battleground.

Countering the second Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies has shaped up to be a multifaceted effort, as some groups lay the groundwork for prolonged legal battles that will likely dominate the next few years while others focus on providing immediate support to immigrants.

Tania Chavez, the executive director of LUPE, a community nonprofit serving immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley, acknowledged the anxiety a second Trump administration would bring to immigrant families in a press conference held the morning after election day. But she urged the community to resist despair.

“This morning we woke up to a different reality,” Chavez said, “And it’s in moments like this that we have to be reminded that politicians have only as much power as we give them … we as a community have the power to shape this country in the direction that we take in the next 4 years.”