Yes, They Do

"They don't really deport people anymore, though, right?"

The question took me aback. I wondered where it came from, but I wasn't in the mood to ask. Instead, I quipped, unwisely, "Well, we'll have to see how it goes in November."

Unwisely, because I knew she was a Republican. A Republican who believed abortion trumped (no pun intended) all other issues. I suspect it never even occurred to her not to vote Republican.

When I realized my quip had fallen flat, I explained, "They certainly do deport people. And Immigrations won't care she moved here as a kid or doesn't even speak Spanish or that her children were born here. If she's brought to their attention, they will try to deport her."

Cause that's the thing people don't get. Despite anti-immigrant rhetoric from the right declaring immigrants as criminals and murderers and "bad hombres", most are just people trying to live their lives. They have families. They go to school. They work. They pay taxes. They try to stay under the radar - which means that actually, the truth is immigrant communities often have lower crime rights.

When someone like Donald Trump goes around talking about deporting 11 million people as soon as he gets in office, even suggesting using the national guard or the military to round people up, we need to understand who he is talking about. 

Close to 1 million of the undocumented are children under the age of 18, many of whom do not even remember their home country and do not speak the language.

About 4.4 million US born (and therefore citizen) children live with an undocumented parent. That means, if you deport their parent, you are separating them from their children.

Undocumented immigrants make up 5% of the US workforce. That may seem like an insignificant number, but trust me, we would feel it if they were suddenly gone.

The undocumented paid $96 billion dollars in federal and state taxes in 2022. Taxes which went towards government programs they themselves cannot benefit from, such as social security and Medicare.

The average time an undocumented person has lived in the US is 15 years. That's 15 years of building community, working, growing a family, possibly buying a car or house or other possessions. What happens to all their belongings if they are deported? It's not like they are given time to sell it all or pack. Often it all has to be left behind, and they start over with nothing.

Multiple reports from various sources have shown that deportation can be extremely dangerous. It is not uncommon for people who are deported to be subsequently killed or otherwise tortured, extorted, kidnapped, etc. Deportation is often a life or death type of situation.

The majority of people who are deported have committed no crime in the US other than staying without documentation.

This kind of talk has a huge impact. Look at the way hate crimes against Muslims sky-rocketed after 9/11. Or against Asian-Americans after Covid was repeatedly referred to from the White House as the "Chinese virus". Or now, with the targeting of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. 

When the undocumented are targeted - all Hispanics are targeted, even those here on visas or who have citizenship. That happens repeatedly in raids - everyone gets put in cuffs and locked in vans until they figure out who has papers and who doesn't. People who run - are hunted down. Possibly injured. Possibly shot. 

It should be noted here that Latinos only make up about 55-60% of the undocumented. There are about 1.5 million undocumented Asians. There are undocumented people from the Middle East, from Africa, from Europe, from the UK, from Canada. But when the news talks about the undocumented, people usually picture Mexican or just Latino in general. This kind of racial stereotyping can make life very difficult for the entire Latinx community - undocumented or otherwise.

When people are unhappy, they are looking for someone to blame. The far-right has repeatedly put that blame on the undocumented - and on the left party for "allowing" so many to be here.

This type of politicizing is not new. It's what Hitler did to gain power. He targeted the Jewish people, said they were the enemy, they were the ones taking the jobs and hoarding the wealth. It was their fault the people were suffering.

And we all know how that turned out.

Why do we think rounding up 11 million people - children, mothers, fathers, grandparents - would look any different? Especially when he's talking about "deportation camps"? Of course, he's not talking (yet?) about extermination, as in Nazi Germany, but there will be much suffering, and likely, death as well.

The fear of mass deportation is not just felt among the undocumented. It's felt among the entire immigrant population in our country. And they should be afraid. If Trump wins, they should be very, very afraid.

But so should we all.

My husband, who just got his citizenship this year after 16 years in this country as a green card holder, wondered aloud if we should move back to his country should Trump be president again. He would no longer feel safe here.

That's real.

The woman I was speaking to in the beginning of this blog - as I was explaining how the undocumented have really no legal pathways available to them to adjust their status, sighed, her brow furrowed, and noted, "It's one thing when you hear about policies on the TV, but it's another when you know a person who will be affected by those policies."

Exactly.

Because those 11 million people have names. They have families. They have people who love and care for them.

They are human beings created in the image of God and infinitely loved by Him.

They should not be used as pawns in a game of politics.

They deserve to be protected.

And we - the voters - are the ones who must protect them.

We have to stop pretending abortion is the only issue of importance. 

"When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God." - Leviticus 19:33-34