'It is always fear': Local immigrant community reacts to Trump 2025 policies
Dec 18, 2024
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — President-elect Donald Trump has promised mass deportation of undocumented immigrants as part of his administration's border policy, meaning people in southeast Georgia who are undocumented could face new obstacles in the coming months.
"The fear of separation, especially for children, for life to change as they know it," Daniela Rodriguez, Executive Director of Migrant Equity Southeast, said. "It is always fear."
Come Inauguration Day, Trump has said he plans to implement new polices right away.
"On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history," he said at a rally earlier this year.
Advocates like Rodriguez are apprehensive about what those new policies will look like.
"In the state of Georgia, we are looking at two different things" she said. "We're looking at immigrant communities possibly being under attack not only at the federal level because of the Trump administration but also because of the anti-immigrant bill that passed earlier this year in Georgia, May 1."
That legislation is House Bill 1105.
According to the text of the bill, if someone is arrested and suspected by law enforcement of being undocumented, jailers are required to detain them and contact Immigration and Customs enforcement.
"It's kind of been slow to take effect, but as soon as 2025 comes, we know this will be something immigrant communities will fear," Rodriguez said.
As far as Trump's plans on the federal level, Rodriguez said her organization has already dealt with similar policies.
"There was a kid waiting for the school bus with his dad," she said. "ICE came, and just as the school bus was coming to pick up the kid, ice came and took the dad right in front of the kid and right in front of the kid's classmates that were in the bus. Can you imagine how traumatic that would be for the child? These are things that we are preparing for, and the immigrant community knows that. They are prepared."
Beginning in January, the president elect has also promised a slate of new policies that would restrict people from immigrating illegally.
"You know the people that have been treated very unfairly are the people that have been online for ten years to come into this country. We're going to make it very easy for people to come in in terms they have to pass the test," he said in a Meet the Press interview this month.
Rodriguez said that she believes these policies may have some unintended consequences.
"Just the City of Savannah is known for its tourism," she said. "The people who build the hotels are immigrants. The people who work in the hotels are immigrants. So, we're looking at these big companies that are moving to coastal Georgia. Thousands of immigrants work in these industries. So, when we think about massive deportations, I want, especially the anti-immigrant audience to understand what this will mean. Some of these immigrants are willing to take on the jobs that nobody wants to take."