attack the employers they will deport themselves
After years of increasing comfort with their status in the U.S., illegal immigrants say they?re being chased back into the shadows, and they blame Donald Trump.
The GOP presidential front-runner put immigration back at the top of the political conversation in June when he announced his campaign, blaming Mexico for sending some of its worst elements to the U.S. And the issue has remained at the top ever since, propelling Mr. Trump and renewing a national conversation that immigrant rights advocates had thought they?d won.
Now states such as Arizona are renewing their own efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants, and Mr. Trump has spawned a new fear among mixed-status families ? those with some members here legally and some not ? about coming forward to tell their stories.
Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat, said he went seeking permission of illegal immigrants to tell their stories during a House floor debate last week over President Obama?s deportation amnesty, but families who usually are eager to have their stories told balked this time.
?In the past, it has always been very customary that they have said, ?Yes. If it will help to share my story, please share it with the American people,?? Mr. Polis told his colleagues. ?When I asked over the last few days, and when my staff asked, there were many families who said ?no? to having their stories told on the House floor.?
Immigrant rights activists even have a name for it: They call it the ?Trump Effect.?
America?s Voice, an immigrant rights group, keeps what it calls the ?Donald Trump Hate and Violence Map,? where it tracks reports of threats or attacks on immigrants or Hispanics that the group attributes to Trump supporters or hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
?We?re seeing that Trump is not only a candidate, he?s really creating political space for folks that want to spew anti-immigrant rhetoric,? said Jacinta Gonzalez, field director for the group Mijente.
It marks a major reversal from recent years, where illegal immigrants had become increasingly comfortable with their status in the U.S. Many of them ? particularly young ?Dreamers? ? would ?come out? as illegal immigrants, and they were hosted at the highest levels of government, including seats at Mr. Obama?s State of the Union addresses.
Mark Krikorian, executive director at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for stricter immigration limits, said Mr. Obama had effectively punctured immigration enforcement, erasing the fear most illegal immigrants had of being deported.
Sanctuary cities that refused to cooperate with federal authorities, and states promising driver?s licenses or in-state tuition at public schools to illegal immigrants, also helped entice illegal immigrants to come forward.
?Illegal immigrants get their cues from the broader society: What do politicians say, what do reporters say, what do schools do? During Obama?s term, the messages that have been sent to illegal immigrants from the broader society say it?s not such a big deal to be illegal,? Mr. Krikorian said. ?There really are no shadows. They?re on the front pages of the news, they?re testifying to congressional committees.?
Enter Mr. Trump, who in June kicked off his campaign for president by vowing to deport illegal immigrants and to build a wall to deter new crossers along the southwest border. His plans landed like a stink bomb within the GOP, where party leaders had spent years trying to convince rank-and-file voters they needed to embrace a more lenient policy.
?These politicians are all talk, no action. They?re never going to do anything. They only picked it up because when I went and I announced I was running for president, I said, you know, this country has a big, big problem with illegal immigration. And all of the sudden we started talking about it,? Mr. Trump said this weekend as he rallied in Arizona ahead of Tuesday?s primary. ?For the first time, people saw what was going on.?
Donald Trump chasing illegal immigrants back into the shadows - Washington Times