New | Fear sweeps through illegal migrants in US after Trump victory
Those in the shadows fear mass deportations as Trump will soon have names and addresses of those in US illegally
It was around midnight Wednesday just as it was becoming clear that Donald Trump would be the next president of the United States that longtime immigration advocate Maudia Melendez reached out to family and friends online.
“Attention: this is a call to all of you who are hearing from others that you need to pack your bags because Donald Trump is winning the election. Please stop injecting fear into the people. Fear of man is sin,” she wrote in capital letters on Facebook.
Trump’s ascent to the presidency has set off a wave of fear among millions of immigrants in the United States illegally.
Many drew comfort in Hillary Clinton’s massive mobilisation of the 27 million registered Latino voters. Many who’d drawn comfort in predictions that Latinos would have a game-changing impact on the election and that would lead to a new immigration laws are now unsure of their next move.
They’re afraid Trump can follow through with promises to deport those here illegally. And he will have at his fingertips the identities and legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who submitted their personal information to President Barack Obama following his executive orders to block their deportation. Some experts say Trump is politically obligated to deport them.
