Lapatilla
Blanca Figueroa and Severiano Martínez knew from the beginning of their eight-year marriage that she was at risk of deportation because she entered the United States illegally.
By Reuters
Now, with President-elect Donald Trump expected to issue a series of executive orders aimed at speeding up the deportation process the day he takes office on January 20, that risk has become an overwhelming source of anxiety and discussion in his home in central Florida.
Figueroa, who is from Guatemala, and Martínez, who is a U.S. citizen, live with their seven-year-old son who was born in the United States and a teenage son from a previous relationship who has a green card. Figueroa says she is the main breadwinner and Martinez’s caregiver after he was injured at his job at a horse ranch.
“She is very worried that if I am deported she will not be able to take care of the house and the children,” she told Reuters.
About a third of the 1.4 million people expected to be the main targets for deportation (those like Figueroa with “final orders of deportation”) live in the control areas of Florida and Texas, according to data from the Service of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement obtained by Reuters.
The two states have enacted their own laws to crack down on immigrants who are in the country illegally. At least another third of immigrants living under final orders are in California and other “sanctuary” states that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Reuters spoke to a half-dozen immigrants living in Florida and Texas who have deportation orders, as well as immigrant advocates and religious leaders, who described growing anxiety and a rush to meet with lawyers and make contingency plans for the migrants. children and other dependents in case they are deported. They described their fear of being stopped by police indiscriminately or for driving without a license.
John Budensiek, sheriff of Martin County, Florida, an hour’s drive north of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, said many criminals passing through his jails could be “low-hanging fruit.”
Budensiek, a Republican, said the sheriff’s office has “had a really difficult time” getting ICE officers to pick up immigration offenders from its jails during Joe Biden’s presidency.
“I think the Trump administration is going to be pretty aggressive in getting hold of them,” he said.
An ICE spokesperson said the agency considers individual circumstances when determining whether to detain someone.
Figueroa, 36, crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in 2016 and was ordered deported after failing to appear for an immigration court hearing in November of that year. He met Martinez, 64, later that year, when they worked on the same ranch. “He was, and still is, my angel here,” she said.
Read more at Reuters
