Human rights advocates call on Biden to speed up reforms to protect migrants

The countdown is underway to January 20, the day Donald Trump will take office as president of the United States. Faced with the threat of mass deportation that the Republican president-elect has promised, migrant rights organizations are wasting no time uniting to protect immigrants on two main fronts: asking those who may be affected to contact defense groups and get information, and urging local and state authorities as well as the Biden administration to take advantage of the little more than two months left to approve measures to prevent expulsions.

“You may be hearing noise as I speak. It’s people working in my house, because I want to be sure that I can see when ICE and CBP agents come knocking on my door. This is not a drill,” explained Greisa Martínez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream, during an online session on behalf of a coalition of 38 human rights organizations from 32 states scheduled to announce their actions in response to Trump’s threats. Martínez is one of the beneficiaries of DACA, the program granting legal residence to half a million migrants who entered the country illegally when they were children (the so-called Dreamers). It is just one of the programs that are in the sights of the president-elect in his crusade against immigration, which he intends to begin on the first day of his term.

Immigrant advocates are warning anyone who will listen that the situation is very serious. “The threat of deportation is not just a campaign promise. We have witnessed it in the last [Trump] administration. We saw raids in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We witnessed how our families came to CHIRLA and asked for resources because they were coming after their father, their mother, even grandmothers,” said Areli Hernández, another DACA beneficiary and director of Executive Affairs for CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.

Alarm bells went off in the migrant community as soon as Trump’s victory was announced, and the appointments of hard-line immigration advocates Tom Homan, Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem to his administration leave no doubt about the new president’s intentions.

To be prepared for what may come, the organizations are asking President Joe Biden to quickly adopt measures to protect them, because this is a moment “that requires moral and political leadership,” says Martínez Rosas. There are three priorities for which they are pressuring the current administration, which they blame for not having done what was necessary in four years to protect them: activate temporary protected status (TPS); speed up the processing of people in detention centers, and ensure that any new measures taken will be made to protect migrants.

According to these groups, one of the most effective tools they have is the dissemination of information. “Immigrants have rights: human rights, civil rights, that is the most important thing to remember,” says Hernández. One of the recommendations she makes is to get a “rights card” on her website that reminds people that they have the right to remain silent. “We don’t have to disclose our [immigration] status when they ask us. That is still a right,” she says.

Organizations have begun to mobilize all their resources to inform migrants of their rights through workshops, legal resources and educational services. They also claim to have increased resources to reinforce the psychological help that migrants will need due to the anxiety that the fear of deportation and family separation can trigger.

The battle against oppressive measures approved by the new administration will be fought in the courts, for which legal services are already preparing, as in the case of Arizona. At the election, the border state approved a proposal to authorize the police to detain undocumented migrants. “We will fight against Trump’s mass deportation agenda every step of the way. We will work with allies in the legislature and take legal action to defend immigrant families in Arizona,” said Karime Rodríguez, director of services for Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA).

As they prepare for the legal challenges that may come, these groups are appealing to civil organizations, such as unions, businesses and universities, to join in protecting migrants. They are also calling on local and state authorities to quickly approve measures that would increase their protection.

Without the support of the authorities, they acknowledge, the room for maneuver is small. “The window within which we can take action is short, and we must work together to reach Congress and the presidency and ensure that there are results. In the meantime, we call on our members to take action to protect themselves,” said Mireya Reith, co-director of FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement).

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