Donald Trump's return to the White House, promising mass deportations of undocumented immigrants in the United States, is frightening Portuguese people who let their visas expire in California.
"The return of this President is affecting the psychological state not only of me, but of many people who are in the same situation as me as an immigrant," Portuguese Emanuel Carvalho (fictitious name), who has been in Los Angeles for nine years, told Lusa. and became illegal when his visa expired.
"The promises that this new government made will directly affect all immigrants, including me. I'm not going to lie, I haven't been able to sleep since this President won," said the Portuguese.
Carvalho, who headed to the United States "in search of greater stability" for himself and his children, said that life as an undocumented immigrant is very difficult and full of ups and downs. Now, he fears that the situation will worsen considerably.
"I'm very scared of the future, I don't know what will happen. I have people who depend on me too," he said. The immigrant set up a company and pays taxes, but is unable to change his status after the visa expires. "The next four years will be hell for me."
Maria do Carmo (not her real name) is also afraid of what will happen with the new Trump administration. He has a mixed family in legal terms, with documents and without documents, and may be the target of the family separation that characterized the previous Republican administration.
"My daughter has just handed in her papers to receive her residence permit and is scared," he told Lusa. "Me and my husband too, because we're not cool yet."
Maria do Carmo explained that many of her friends voted for Donald Trump and this generated discussions during the campaign, due to the anti-immigration positions of the now President-elect.
"I tell my friends if they think it's good to vote for a corrupt person," he said. "A man who wants to deport a lot of people and many of them are immigrants or children of immigrants," he said. "But those who believe say he will change America and the world and gas prices will fall."
The Portuguese family, who have established solid positions in their California community, have no other option than to "live day to day and go unnoticed," he said.
Carmo lamented the rhetoric and said that if mass deportations happen, he doubts Americans will want to work "where a lot of immigrants work."
For Emanuel Carvalho, who says he has "no hope" at the moment, the positive element is being in California, a state with many immigrants and whose leadership has already committed to hindering Trump's plans.
"I'm very grateful to be in this state of California where I was able to find a job, rent a house, help my children and my family," he said. Still, he points out the obstacles.
"It's difficult to be here due to the lack of documentation, because they deprive us of a lot of things. People can't have a credit card, they always have to have money to pay everything on debt, and it's difficult to get jobs."
President-elect Donald Trump nominated Tom Homan to lead new border policy and plan mass deportations. Homan was the architect of the previous administration's strategy of taking babies and children from asylum-seeking migrants and placing them in structures that have been compared to cages in order to discourage families from trying to enter the United States.
The policy caused much controversy and was rescinded on June 20, 2018, and there are still around 1,400 children who have not been able to be returned to their parents six years later. This is data from a 'task force' created by Joe Biden to reunify the 5,000 children taken from parents who legally requested asylum.
Several immigrant advocacy organizations in Los Angeles have already spoken out about the election results and promised to reinforce their work to protect the most vulnerable.
Angélica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA -- Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, shared a video in which she asked people to help the organization with contributions and volunteering, due to the threat of Trump's return.
"What this means for organizations like CHIRLA is that we now have an agenda of mass deportations and family separation and an attack on immigrant communities," he said. "We take it very seriously."
Salas said immigrant advocates are resilient and will take a strong stand. "We will defend individuals who only seek protection in this country, who work every day to ensure that not only their families can move forward, but that this entire country can move forward."
The director of Esperanza Immigrant Rights, Kimberley Plotnik, also said she was full of "dread and sadness" about the election.
"The anti-immigrant policies advocated by the Trump campaign, and those carried out during his previous administration, have been and continue to be devastating, inhumane and unjust," said the person in charge of the program, organized by a coalition of Catholic associations in Los Angeles.
"At Esperanza, we have seen the impact of these policies firsthand, and many of you, our dedicated supporters, have also seen their harm."
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