Members of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice met on Wednesday to discuss how incoming President Donald Trump’s immigration policy may affect them and their families.
“We took a moment for everybody to express how they were feeling,” said Veronica Ayala, community organizer for ACIJ. “It was a moment we could all come together and share our feelings. There had been a lot of hope for this election, so a lot of our community was feeling doubtful about how we’re going to move forward and what’s going to happen to their families.”
Trump has threatened to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history, claiming that he will use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to define specific immigrants as an invading force, allowing his government to jail and deport nationals of the selected countries. That statute was last utilized to place Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II, which has been viewed as a bad scar on American history for decades.
In addition to promising to deport all undocumented immigrants, Trump has also stated that he will terminate birthright citizenship for immigrants, raising concerns among American citizens born here to unlawful parents.
“Will these proposals really be carried out, or were they just a tactic to win the Presidency,” Ayala said. “It has put fear in our community. We don’t have all the answers right now until he does take office in January.”
Trump’s intentions might even target people who are legitimately present in the country under the Biden administration, such as asylum seekers from Haiti who have been subjected to racist propaganda peddled by Republican leaders. In his debate against Kamala Harris, Trump claimed that Haitian immigrants were “eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats” in Springfield, Ohio, despite the lack of evidence. Far-right media groups have fueled fears of Haitian immigrant invasions in Alabama, including Sylacauga, where just 60 such immigrants live, and predicted an invasion of Baldwin County that never occurred.
Despite the facts, Ayala claims that indoctrination has led people to believe that immigrants do not contribute to society.
“Immigrants pay income taxes, they purchase cars, get tags, and they pay taxes every time they buy groceries,” Ayala said. “We pay taxes on a day to day basis.”
Immigrants also contribute to crucial sectors of labor, like the food industry, construction, and hospitality, according to Ayala.
Republicans have frequently claimed that unauthorized immigrants are manipulating election results, despite overwhelming evidence pointing to extremely limited voter fraud by immigrants. Secretary of State Wes Allen made an attempt to remove individuals previously assigned a noncitizen identification number from the voter rolls, even though they might have later naturalized and become eligible to vote.
ACIJ was one of the plaintiffs who sued Allen and successfully prevented the scheme from being used for the 2024 election on the grounds that he launched the initiative inside a 90-day timeframe that was protected against large modifications to the voter rolls.
“The immigrant advocacy movement understands the threat the next administration presents for our rights and our communities,” Ayala said. “We’re continuing to fight for our rights and standing strong.”