Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Fear and loathing sweep immigrant communities in wake of Trump win

Immigrant communities across the Philadelphia region awoke Wednesday expressing fear of what a Donald Trump presidency will mean for them.

Olivia Vasquez, 22, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico and a community organizer of Juntos, a community-led, Hispanic immigrant organization in South Philadelphia, talks about the impact Donald Trump’s election.
Olivia Vasquez, 22, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico and a community organizer of Juntos, a community-led, Hispanic immigrant organization in South Philadelphia, talks about the impact Donald Trump’s election.Read moreClem Murray / Staff Photographer

Immigrant communities across the Philadelphia region awoke Wednesday expressing fear of what a Donald Trump presidency will mean for them.

Having felt the lash of Trump's rhetoric during the long campaign, Muslims and Latinos were especially concerned.

"We are shocked," said Amina Aziz, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Morocco. "I don't know what's going to happen to this country. Will he try to kick us out? ... We feel targeted."

Aziz, of Northeast Philadelphia, said she and her immediate family - six people - voted for Hillary Clinton. "It's like a funeral at our house right now," she said.

At Juntos, a Latino support group in South Philadelphia, a dozen Mexican immigrants shared their fears at an emergency community meeting.

They said they are afraid Trump will unleash a deportation force and rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama administration program that has shielded some from expulsion.

Maria Hernandez, 36, undocumented from Mexico, said her 13-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter are scared the family will be split up.

Members of the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, an interfaith support group for immigrants, are worried, too.

"This is terrifying. Trump's campaign of hate, racism and exclusion ... now has the power of the White House behind it," the group said in a statement.

Members elaborated.

"I have to be strong for my children. They have a lot of fear that we will be separated," said Leticia Melchor, who emigrated illegally from Mexico and has three U.S.-born children.

"I am speechless. I am in shock," said the Rev. Aldo Siahaan of the Praise Center, a South Philadelphia church. He was born in Indonesia. Many of his congregants are Asian immigrants.

"I am meditating on the Bible verse this morning asking 'who is our brother and sister?' My undocumented brother and sister are my family," he said.

Many members of Juntos were born in Mexico, the country Trump called out harshly when he announced his candidacy and trashed throughout his campaign.

Young and undocumented Juntos members who took advantage of DACA are particularly concerned because Trump wants to end the program. Olivia Vasquez, 22, a recent graduate of Community College of Philadelphia, is one whose DACA status could be on the line.

Johanna Calle, program coordinator for the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, a coalition of support groups, said: "Members are frustrated and afraid," but "ready to keep fighting to protect our community."

Throughout Tuesday into Wednesday, Juntos executive director Erika Almiron's telephone was filling up with fearful texts.

"What's next? What happens to DACA?" many callers asked.

"We always knew that no matter who won we would have to wake up fighting. Now we just have to be better organized," Almiron said in an interview.

In that vein, the New Sanctuary Movement said it will host "nonviolent action trainings" over the next two months, hoping to recruit 1,000 people to disrupt the immigration raids they fear are coming.

mmatza@phillynews.com

215-854-2541@MichaelMatza1