Under a presidential administration that has threatened mass deportation and a widespread crackdown on immigration, fear and uncertainty have permeated immigrant communities throughout the country. At a forum of immigrant leaders Thursday, leaders of immigrants rights groups spoke to that fear, but called for a move beyond anxiety into action.
“This mass deportation agenda is inflicting fear,” said Mayra Barragan-O’Brien, Senior Mental Health Manager at Immigrants Rising. “Yes, there is fear, but there’s also power within ourselves, power within our communities, power within our organizations.”
The early days of the Trump administration saw a flurry of executive actions meant to limit immigration and make it easier to deport immigrants. However, some note that deportations continued under the Biden administration, highlighting that the highly publicized raid in Bakersfield took place before President Donald Trump took office.
And while Erika Pinheiro, executive director of immigrant aid organization Al Otro Lado, noted that enforcement has increase, she has not yet seen as much a rise in deportation. This means that the panic has sometimes outstripped the reality on the ground – at least so far – leading immigrants to avoid the public services and employment that are key to supporting them.
“The fear of communities is real,” said Pinheiro. “A lot of what’s being publicized are things that have happened for years, but because of the way it’s being sensationalized, people are afraid to go to school, to go to work, and are really hungry for information.”
Instead, Luz Gallegos, executive director of immigrant advocacy group TODEC, advocated for helping educate communities on their rights and organizing together against the threats to immigrants. “Our intention is not to create more fear than what our community is living, but we have to prepare for the worst,” said Gallegos.
Despite the focus on resilience and resistance, all at the forum acknowledged that there were real threats to immigrant communities and limitations on those who serve them.
Jesus Martinez, executive director of the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative has long been helping coordinate “know your rights” workshops to arm immigrants with legal knowledge. While previous workshops saw attendance in the teens, more recent workshops have seen that figure balloon to 100 to 200 for certain events.
The increase in demand is testing the limits of what legal aid organizations like his can do.
“That overwhelms the capacity that … organizations have to provide services,” said Martinez, who called for help to increase capacity for legal services.
But even as need grows, federal aid is under threat. Pinheiro noted that many federally-funded programs are “on the chopping block.” While the state of California has helped provide funding, it is not yet enough to fill the gap in need, said Pinheiro, who noted philanthropy could help fill that gap.
“I’ve already seen a lot of organizations laying folks off,” said Pinheiro. “We are at a time where the work that we’re doing is needed more than ever, but we are under enormous resource strain because of the instability of our federal funding.”
Still, many emphasized that amid the concern and strain, there was ingenuity and help available, whether that was helping those afraid of workplace raids become entrepreneurs or creating community forums to aid in mental health.
“There are so many resources, there’s so much that we’re doing,” said Barragan-O’Brien. “We’re not powerless, even though it sometimes feels like that.”