Immigrants in many US cities brace for expected Trump deportation arrests

 Chicago (AP) Parents around Nora Sanidgo’s large, rectangular dining table had lunch before signing documents to make the Nicaraguan immigrant a legal guardian of their children, entrusting them to her if they are deported. She gave a list of what to carry with them: birth certificates, medical and school records, immigration documents, her phone number.

Talk to your children and tell them what can happen, let them have my phone number on hand, let them learn it, let them record it, Sandigo said Sunday.For the group at Sandigo’s southwest Miami home and for millions in the United States illegally or with temporary legal status, the start of Donald Trump’s second term as president on Monday comes with a feeling that their time in the U.S. may end soon. Trump made mass deportations a signature issue of his campaign and has promised a raft of first-day orders to remake immigration policy.

You don’t have to be afraid, you have to be prepared, Sandigo told the group of about 20 people, including small children, who watched a demonstration of how to respond if immigration officers knock on their door. Take precautions wherever you are.Sandigo, who came to the US in 1988, has volunteered to be guardian for more than 2,000 children in 15 years, including at least 30 since December. A notary was on hand Sunday.

Erlinda, a single mother from El Salvador who arrived in 2013, signed legal rights to her US-born children, ages 10 and 8. She said she applied for asylum but doesn’t know the status of her case.

I am afraid for my children, that they will live the terror of not seeing their mother for a day, for a month, for a year, said Erlinda, 45, who asked to be identified by first name only due to fears of being detained.Plans for deportation arrests appeared to be in flux after news leaked of an operation in Chicago this week. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said on Fox News Sunday that Chicago was not off the table, but we’re reconsidering when and how we do it. He said the leak raised concerns about officer safety.So-called sanctuary cities, which limit how local police cooperate with federal immigration authorities, have been a favourite Trump target, especially Chicago. Reports that his initial push would be in the nation’s third-largest city brought a new sense of urgency and fear.

Chicago became a sanctuary city in the 1980s and has beefed up policies since, including after Trump first took office in 2017. Last week, the City Council heartily rejected a longshot plan calling for exceptions allowing local police to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on deportation cases for people accused or convicted of crimes.The Rev. Homero Sanchez said he didn’t realize the depth of fear in the Chicago immigrant community he serves until someone asked him to handle the sale of their family’s home and other finances if they are picked up after Trump takes office.They feel they have been targeted for who they are. They feel like they’re reviving this fear they had eight years ago, said Sanchez, who serves the St. Rita of Cascia Parish on Chicago’s South Side. They’re feeling like something is going to happen. This is not their city because of the threat.

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