EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – After her first child was born in El Paso, Mercedes began the long process to legally migrate to the United States.
The years passed and the Juarez, Mexico, resident saw her son grow and develop an interest in baseball. One Sunday when her son was playing with others in a public park, several armed men arrived in trucks and shot a man in the crowd dead.
She and the other mothers worried a stray bullet easily could’ve claimed the lives of their children.
“My life changed that day. I thought about what was best for my family and we made the decision to come to the United States,” Mercedes said. “We were waiting on the legal process, but it took too long. I was desperate, so we made the decision to come here another way.
Her husband worked odd jobs and she cleaned houses and babysat to earn a living. Twenty years later, her older son has graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso, another is in college and a third in middle school in El Paso.
But now Mercedes worries she will be separated from her children and she and her husband will be forced to return to the violence in Mexico that drove them to the U.S.
Fear is widespread throughout the border’s undocumented migrant community since President-elect Donald Trump reiterated campaign promises to conduct mass deportations of people who entered the country illegally, advocates and migrants say. On Monday, Trump also asserted he would call on the assistance of the military for such a task.
“In our communities, there is a lot of concern, a lot of fear. There are some persons thinking of leaving before the mass deportations begin,” said Mercedes, who asked not to reveal her last name. “Sadly, sometimes we transmit that fear to our children. So, our children, too, are showing signs of fear and depression.”
Alan Lizarraga, spokesman for El Paso-based Border Network for Human Rights, confirmed fears are growing. But he urged the undocumented community to remain calm and on individuals to be aware of their rights.
“There is a lot of fear going around, a lot of misinformation as well. I think it’s an important moment for people to get trusted legal advice and also not fall back in the shadows, to be scared, to be hiding,” he said. “This is a moment to learn about their rights, to protect communities of immigrants who have been here for a long time and contributing to their community.”
Several other migrant advocacy nonprofits in El Paso are sharing similar advice with their clients. Nationwide, advocacy organizations are lobbying Democrats to resist aggressive immigration efforts from Trump and the new GOP majority they say would separate mixed-status families (like that of Mercedes), strip employers of laborers and lead to inflation.
The advocates also are calling for immigration reform to give undocumented workers with a lengthy job history and clean criminal records more opportunities for lawful permanence in the United States.
“We don’t understand how someone can say he will deport millions, how families will be separated,” Mercedes said. “We are worried, but we know in this country everyone has rights. That gives us some peace of mind.”
In addition to lawyering up, migrant advocates like BNHR urge migrants to exercise their right to remain silent when asked potentially incriminating questions by police or immigration agents.
Mercedes said she knows of acquaintances who were placed in deportation proceedings after Immigration and Customs Enforcement went into a house to detain one person but left with several others after they began asking everyone present if they were in the country legally.
In her long years in El Paso, she also has known people whose loved one landed in jail for owing traffic tickets or committing a misdemeanor, then having ICE come in and place an immigration detainer on him or her.
“Every family must have an emergency plan, all their documents in order and thinking what to do in case something happens,” Mercedes said. “And have someone you trust take care of your children. It would be very difficult for me to return to my country with my children because the violence continues … it has gotten worse.”
