As the new year approaches, President-elect Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations is creating stress and fear for the estimated 5% of Floridians who are undocumented immigrants -- and for their families.
Some are caught up in the uncertainty of the moment and taking what steps they can to protect their loved ones and property. Even before the new administration's policies take shape, the perceived threat of deportation is real for many people here.
"So it's definitely on the top of our list when it comes to a conversation at the dinner table," said 23-year-old Salvador Rosas, who works with youth at the Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka. He and his two younger brothers were born here, but his parents are undocumented immigrants from Mexico.
"Basically we're trying to figure out, you know, what's going to happen next," Rosas said. "We have that huge fear of maybe it can end up causing separation between the family. What's going to end up happening to my parents? ... What ends up happening to my youngest sibling?"
Their family is one of about 4 million mixed-status families in America, according to the American Immigration Council. And in Florida, about 250,000 underage U.S. citizens live with an undocumented parent.
Rosas says the families he's spoken with fall into two buckets. There are those who are afraid of what's going to happen and are thinking about returning to their home countries.
"The second bucket would be, you know what? We're gonna stay put. I think the best thing for us to do is stay here," Rosas said.
They may have been here 15 years or more, he said. And they say politicians come and go but their situation doesn’t seem to change much.
Rosas said his folks are in that second bucket. But even before President Trump takes office, his election has made them more afraid to travel out of state. His parents scrapped a trip to Chicago and won't be celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary with family there.
For Rosas, the risk of separation hit home after his mother's decision not to travel to see her own mom, he said. "And it made me think. My mom was just a child at that moment just trying to see her mom again. And it gives me that same feeling if it was to happen to me."
Most important, the children
Angela Eisenmann leads the nonprofit Mexican Coalition of Florida and helps women at the Mexican Consulate in Orlando.
"The people is scared for many things. The people is scared because first ... the most important for them is the children," she said. "They are scared if they deported them, who's going to be with the children here?"
Eisenmann said she works to help them be informed, not fearful. She tries to connected them with trustworthy legal help instead of people who take advantage of their situation.
"I think it's the most important thing that we do," she said. "The most important job that we need to do is (to) inform. Because if you inform, you educate. If you educate, you empower the people."
"Many undocumented immigrants have lived through trauma," Eisenmann said. "They have already stories that they bring. ... That is why this is very sad. We don't want to put them more stress. We don't want to put them more scared."
'The dignity plan'
At Hope CommUnity Center, Executive Director Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet sees a difficult holiday season for many of the families the center serves.
"A lot of folks are coming to Christmas dinner thinking, 'Is this the last dinner that we're ever going to have together?'" Sousa-Lazaballet said. "And, honestly, that's just heart-wrenching."
His immigration department will be training more staff and volunteers in January to help undocumented immigrants prepare.
"So we work with them," he said, "on creating a plan for their children, creating a plan for their finances, creating a plan for different aspects of their lives, including making sure that they have a power of attorney for someone else that they trust."
If there's a raid, he said, things will happen fast, and there won't be time for all those details. What if a mom is arrested at work or detained on the road, for instance? She'll need someone approved to pick up the kids from school and to help make sure they're not lost in the system.
"We call it the dignity plan," Sousa-Lazaballet said, "because we think it's about taking control of your own life ... but we also know it's really hard. Okay, it's not only complicated and difficult to think through, it's actually emotionally challenging. "
He’ll have people with training and a checklist in hand to walk with them through all those preparations.
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