The ACLU sued Immigrations and Customs Enforcement this week for government records on airline flights that transport migrants out of the United States. More of those flights could come as President-elect Donald Trump says he’ll declare a national emergency on immigration and use the military to carry out mass deportations.
Lindsay Toczylowkski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, says her organization has thousands of clients, many of whom are currently in removal proceedings.
She’s hearing that people are taking Trump at his word and are fearful. Her staff members are giving people resources and information to prepare for what could happen.
“What he's saying, in many ways, we know is illegal, will be subject to legal challenges. But we do know that he will try to make an example of places like Los Angeles, that he will attack our communities. And we are getting prepared to fight back,” she says.
To get ready now, Toczylowkski is looking back at 2017 and 2018. She says when Trump rolled out his family separation policy back then, “it was one of the only times during his presidency that we were able to lean into public opinion on how incredibly cruel and really defacing our values that policy was.”
She continues, “That was combined with litigation strategy, with frontline defending of the families who are being separated, and with people getting out in the streets and showing that this was something that we were not going to stand for. And we were able to get the Trump administration to reverse course. It is not going to be easy moving forward, and certainly the mass deportation plans, which we really see as mass family separation plans, are going to challenge us.”
She notes that the immigrant rights movement is stronger now than during Trump’s first four years in the White House. Her organization alone has grown from less than 30 members to more than 200. “We have dozens of lawyers now who provide deportation defense, some funded by the County and the City of Los Angeles who are ready to stand up and defend our communities. And that is something that we hadn't even contemplated back in 2016.”
Toczylowkski emphasizes that it’s impossible for the Trump administration to deport the approximately 11 million immigrants in the country. “ICE does not have the resources to do that. We think his use of [the] military to do some of that enforcement is likely illegal and will certainly be subject to litigation.”
She continues, “We also are looking at what has to happen when someone is put into removal proceedings. There is due process. People have to have a hearing. They need to go before a judge. They don't have the capacity to detain the millions of people they are claiming that they will detain.”
Toczylowkski points out that right now, people should apply for renewals for temporary protected status, if that applies to them. The same goes for DACA. People should also apply for asylum if they’re eligible.
“All of these things that people can do now, and that we're hosting clinics to help people do, are really important to making sure that they're in the best position possible as we enter the administration.”
However, Toczylowkski acknowledges it’s possible that ICE could raid maybe a garment factory, gather people who don’t have their papers on them, and put them in detention while they figure out whether they can stay in the country.
“It's something that we're preparing for. So here locally, we have a coalition of organizations that have, in the past, responded [to] work site raids … and that are also thinking what that enforcement might look like locally. Because it may not be worksite raids, it could be different types of enforcement actions.”
She adds, “What we're looking for are ways that groups of lawyers and litigators and organizers can work together to ensure that if that is to happen, we have the rapid response ready to … protect people's due process rights.”