St. Louis-area organizations and attorneys supporting immigrants, asylum seekers and refugee families are urging them to renew all immigration documents as soon as possible to prepare for a potential mass deportation.
This guidance comes after President-elect Donald Trump announced last week that he would begin deporting undocumented people on the first day of his term. His “largest deportation" in the country's history plan could affect tens of thousands of people across the St. Louis region.
It is not clear how mass deportation will take place, but it is clear that immigration enforcement will increase, said Jessica Mayo, an attorney and co-director of the MICA Project.
“The last time under Trump, he said everyone's a priority, so it doesn't matter if you have U.S. citizenship, children or spouse, if you come into contact with law enforcement or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they are going to detain you and start you through the immigration court process,” she said. “We certainly expect that to happen [again].”
The migrant and immigrant organization has worked on thousands of cases for asylum seekers, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, humanitarian parolees and clients seeking Temporary Protected Status. MICA Project leaders are especially worried about the future of DACA recipients who are living in the area, because attorneys believe the program will be gutted in the next few months.
The MICA Project works with about 80 DACA recipients. Roberto Munive, a MICA Project representative, said people are wondering if their work permits and driver’s licenses will still be valid. They have called Munive with questions about what they would do if the permits are not renewed, and many fear what could happen to them if they are stopped by police and do not have proper identification or cannot produce a work authorization.
“These are all people who have been living here in the United States basically their whole lives, and having to hear that there's a possibility that the program might get terminated, it puts a lot of fear into them,” said Munive. “Since they have lived here their entire lives, they've been speaking English, going back to another country and not being able to speak that language is also another concern.”
As Trump staffs his administration, attorneys are warning immigrants to start making plans to renew their visas and file any immigration applications, in case Trump's administration carries out its plans immediately after taking office.
“The main thing we're recommending to people right now regarding that possibility is that if they do have work authorization or a green card that they're carrying that with them and keeping it safe – don't leave it in your car, or maybe it could get stolen. Make sure you have copies for backup, if you don't have that but you have another application pending, keep proof of that pending application.
“If you do have U.S. citizen children or spouses, keep documentation of that relationship with you,” Mayo said.
Although Missouri is not a U.S. border state, Javad Khazaeli, an attorney with Khazaeli-Wyrsch Law, warns people with Temporary Protected Status to get their documents up-to-date because it is easy for the government to locate them.
“If Trump deletes the Temporary Protected Status program, it's pretty easy to go pick up those people,” he said. “I'm fairly confident he's going to throw the law away and come up with something new, or have the Republicans pass some form of super-expedited system, which has very few protections to protect people and the bigger issue is even if it takes forever to get rid of people, he could just detain them.”
Because there is much uncertainty around immigration programs, Khazaeli said people should plan for the worst.
He suspects that the new administration and the Republican-controlled Congress could start mass deportation without due process.
“St. Louis hasn't had a large number of the temporary protected status people, but my guess is they're going to start aiming at cities like Chicago and New York, and we have a large amount of county facilities that can hold people,” Khazaeli said. “I could absolutely see them grabbing people from other states and storing them here in Missouri.”
Attorneys and immigrant agencies are also advising people to refer to legal aid services to understand their rights and to access English language translation services in the area to help with any applications.
For people with mixed-status families, having someone in the household or another U.S. citizen with power of attorney could be a lifesaver,” said Julie Fox, executive director of the Immigrant Home English Learning Program.
“Should something happen to the parents of the kids who are legal United States citizens … who's going to take care of them?” she said.
