Ángel Palazuelos has had trouble sleeping since Donald Trump won the elections. The mass deportation of migrants announced by the former and future American president makes the 22-year-old Mexican fear for his future.
“I’m afraid of being deported,” says the biomedical engineering graduate, who came to the US illegally as a four-year-old and has lived in the country without residence documents ever since.
Trump has announced that on his first day in office he will order the largest mass deportation in American history. He also wants to use the army for this. On Sunday he announced that he wants to appoint Tom Homan, the former head of the US border protection agency ICE, who is considered a hardliner, as the new border protection officer. Homan is a “steadfast advocate of border control” and no one is “better at guarding and controlling our borders,” Trump said.
“Border Tsar” engages in racist agitation
The right-wing populist collectively denounces immigrants as violent criminals and a danger to the country. During the election campaign, he escalated into racist incitement, saying migrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.” At a Trump campaign rally in July, his designated “border czar” Homan called on “millions of illegal immigrants” to “start packing now.”
“I was shocked,” Palazuelos, who lives in the southwestern US state of Arizona, said of the moment he heard of Trump’s victory. He now fears “losing everything I’ve worked so hard for.”
There are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Palazuelos belongs to the group of migrants known as ‘Dreamers’, who emigrated as minors and whose stay has so far been tolerated by the authorities – although their path to naturalization remains blocked.
Now Palazuelos is wondering which migrants Trump is referring to when he talks about mass deportations — and whether “dreamers” like him are also affected. “Does that include people like me (…) who came here so young?”
Implementing mass deportations will likely be difficult
It is still unclear how Trump plans to carry out the mass deportation. During his first term (2017-2021), he wanted to mass deport migrants living in the country illegally, but met strong resistance from local authorities and judges. The number of arrests and deportations of immigrants therefore did not increase as dramatically as many critics of his migration policies had feared.
Once again, mass deportation will probably be a more complicated matter for Trump than his strong statements sound. According to experts, large-scale deportation would be very costly and would also seriously damage the US economy. Undocumented migrants are essential workers in several industries and also pay billions of dollars in taxes.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
