President-elect Donald Trump's vow to oversee massive deportations has immigrants nationwide—both legal and otherwise—racked with fear and unease amid an uncertain future, several told Newsweek in exclusive interviews.
Trump promised during his first successful presidential run to "build the wall" separating the United States and Mexico at the southern border. He made heftier promises during the most recent campaign cycle, saying prior to his election victory over Democrat Kamala Harris that he will usher in a new "liberation day" once he takes office in January 2025.
President Joe Biden and Harris have been scrutinized throughout their nearly four years in office as an estimated 10-plus million "encounters" have been recorded by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at the northern and southern borders since January 2021. That doesn't include those who crossed into the U.S. illegally and undetected. Most immigrants have come from Mexico, followed by Venezuela and Guatemala.
A 2022 report issued by the Department of Homeland Security estimated that 11 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the U.S. on January 1, 2022, down from 11.6 million in 2010 and up from 10.5 million in January 2020.
One undocumented immigrant told Newsweek he felt "very paralyzed" in the aftermath of Trump's victory, leaving him unsure whether he'll ultimately be forced to return to Nigeria along with his mother and two siblings, who arrived in the U.S. in 2009.
"Like a sense that I had no control over anything," the 23-year-old man said of the lopsided win. "And a lot of despair because of the stuff he promised and said he was going to do."
The recent Arizona State University graduate who requested anonymity due to fear of escalated immigration enforcement said Trump capturing the popular vote was particularly painful, essentially equating to an emphatic affirmation of the Republican's hardline immigration approach.
"That's what it felt like to me," he said. "I didn't think it was going to be that much of a decisive win."
The aspiring filmmaker in Chandler, Arizona, where Trump defeated Harris by 6 percentage points, said he's now preparing for previously unimaginable scenarios — including mass deportations involving U.S. military resources, which the president-elect indicated last week he's considering as part of a national emergency plan.
"Reading stuff like that, it really hurts," he said. "Because I don't I know if I'm going to be here in a year. Or if I'm even on American soil, am I going to be in a jail cell, awaiting a trial or something? What is the next year going to look like for me? How hard is it going to be for me and my family?"
Trump's return to the White House following campaign promises of the largest mass deportation program in U.S. history signals unmitigated uncertainty and a grim outlook, the Arizona resident said.
"It doesn't bode well for us," he said. "It looks very bleak for our community, basically. I just started thinking about what the next year is going to look like and what I can do."
Cherishing his time in the United States will now become the young man's top priority moving forward, regardless of his belief that half of the country seemingly despises noncitizens and espouses Trump's conservative views on immigration, he said.
"Despite how much people vilify people like me on the news and stuff, I still have a love for America," he said. "The concept of taking anyone in, no matter what they look like, no matter where they're from, that anyone can be American — I love that concept.
"But the last few years, it's not been fun. I've seen a different side of America that I think I just didn't know when I first came here; a side that's very hateful and disregards the humanity of people who are also basically Americans."
The prospect of returning to Nigeria, where his family emigrated from legally via U visa status that later expired, overwhelms the man.
"Lately, it's been on my mind more, thinking about what my next steps are, and how that probably involves being out of the country," he told Newsweek. "I've been here most of my life, I've been here since I was 7. This is all I know."
Feds won't 'start loading people up on buses'
Specific details on how the massive effort might unfold were not provided by Trump's transition team, but reps said the incoming president will utilize "every federal and state power necessary" to target criminals for deportation.
"The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail, like deporting migrant criminals and restoring our economic greatness," Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek. "He will deliver."
As many as 4 million mixed-status families, or U.S. citizens with undocumented relatives, could also be separated under mass deportation Trump's plan, according to a report by the American Immigration Council, a Washington-based nonprofit.
The next Trump administration will potentially target between 11 and 14 million people and cost the U.S. upwards of $315 billion if fully realized, according to the council's estimates.
Biden-era illegal encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border have recently hit a low during Biden's term, expected to fall below 50,000 apprehensions by the end of November—equating to the lowest number since summer 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CBS News.
"We've definitely seen a decrease in activity in our portion of the border. ... The vast majority are Mexican males. We see a few females and a few juveniles," Thaddeus Cleveland, sheriff of Terrell County, Texas, and a former border patrol agent, told Newsweek. "We've slowed down. Our numbers are pretty much pre-Biden activity levels."
He attributed it to bigger enforcement efforts in his part of the state combined with migrants tending to flow through different ports of entry like in San Diego. However, numbers are still higher than normal in neighboring counties like Brewster and Val Verde.
Earlier this week, El Paso County announced that its Migrant Support Services Center plans to close its doors at the end of this December after using FEMA-approved funds since 2022 that provided approximately $29 million in Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) funds to the county to help asylum seekers traveling through the community.
While no local tax dollars were spent on such assistance, the county said in correspondence to Newsweek that it is now "taking precautionary measures due to the uncertainty of support and funding under the new administration."
When asked how he expects the mass deportation to commence, Cleveland anticipates that the threats of door-to-door visits from law enforcement may be embellished and will include a more targeted approach towards those who pose the biggest domestic threats.
"It's not going to be a big sweeping immigration effort to go through communities and just start loading people up on buses that are here illegally," he said. "It will be, as we've done before, focused and targeted efforts on those that are in our country illegally, those that have criminal records, or those that have been caught by local law enforcement and then released because this this administration's reluctance to participate in any sort of immigration enforcement."
Whether that means apprehending illegal migrants who have employment here, or families here who haven't committed any crimes but are tied to such individuals, is part of the broader deportation effort, he added.
"We're gonna be busy for the next four years," Cleveland said.
Facing the unknown
In New Jersey, Julie Moreno, 46, and her husband Neftali Juarez Garcia, 44, said they're girding for the worst as they await determination of his application for a provisional unlawful presence waiver, also known as an I-601A form, which he filed in July 2022.
If approved, Juarez Garcia, who entered the United States illegally in 2004, will be mandated to leave the country for an immigrant visa interview in Mexico. The construction laborer's subsequent safe return to Newark to restart his life is far from guaranteed.
"We don't even have the waiver, which is basically a forgiveness of his unauthorized entry," Moreno told Newsweek. "We've been married for nearly eight years, and he has zero status. That's one of the biggest problems. It's so hard to even get the status of parole from deportation. We're asking for the bare minimum of just allowing us to have peace of mind that our spouses won't be deported. And we cannot even get that."
Earlier this month, a Trump-appointed federal judge struck down President Joe Biden's policy that sought to ease the path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens, like Garcia. The "Keeping Families Together" initiative allowed roughly 500,000 spouses and stepchildren of residents to apply for permanent residency without leaving the country.
Juarez Garcia said Trump's election thrusts his everyday existence into uncertain waters, with the specter of deportation constantly looming.
"And unfortunately, they have all of my information," he said, referring to the fingerprints and photograph he submitted as part of his application. "They know where I live; they know what I look like."
A DACA recipient in California, meanwhile, said he and his wife started taking precautions immediately following Trump's election, including discussions with attorneys and plans for a possible separation.
"Immediately, it brings out a lot of uncertainty and fear," the 31-year-old clinical researcher who requested anonymity told Newsweek. "DACA allowed me to get a job, pay for my education, allowed me to start a career and give back to my community by helping children with neurodevelopmental disabilities."
But that "safe and fulfilling" lifestyle, including the recent purchase of a new home in Sacramento, now feels unquestionably fragile with Trump as commander in chief once again, he said.
"A Trump presidency is putting all of this at risk for me," he said. "I may lose my protections against deportation, I may be separated from my wife or my family, and I may lose my job. I'm really at the risk of losing everything that I've built over these last 26 years."
'Not all of us are criminals'
Rosmely Perez has experienced a wave of emotions in her less than two years in the United States.
The legal immigrant from Venezuela, and others of her ilk, have successfully found housing, employment and peace living in the Denver, Colorado, area—a region long under a microscope due to its sanctuary city status, spending tens of millions of dollars on resources while taking in the largest per-capita surge of migrants since they began accepting and accommodating them in December 2022.
The journey taken by Perez, joined by her husband, two children, sister and her sister's boyfriend, led from Venezuela through Peru to the U.S. starting back in July 2023.
Perez told Newsweek via WhatsApp that the group made the trek due to the U.S. being "a country of opportunities" coupled with an unstable economy in her native country. A larger criminal gang presence back home spurred the individuals' trip, where they eventually entered the U.S. through Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican city on the Rio Grande just south of El Paso, Texas.
Now, after being settled for over a year and trying to claim their portion of the American experience with help from local officials and neighbors, Perez is wary of what the second Trump administration holds for her and her family's future. They have asylum but are still awaiting work permits from the federal government.
"Now that Trump won, we don't know what will happen," Perez said, per a Google translation. "My family and I are worried since he attacked immigrants on several occasions, and I know that he closes the doors on us to deport us. There are many families that have an immigration process that will be affected with the arrival of Trump.
"I agree with them getting the criminals out, but not all of us families here are criminals. We are afraid because I know they will [deport many migrants]."
Perez's parents remain in Venezuela but live on a low income and couldn't take in her and her family.
Her daughter has continually asked about what the future holds for the family, to which Perez has struggled to muster a response.
"I would not know what to do if I were deported," she said. "In Venezuela, I have nothing, not even a person to be with. I don't like the actions of the new president. He is racist and a heartless person.
"We don't have any plans [but to] simply leave everything in the hands of God and face whatever has to happen."
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