Donald Trump has not begun to govern when we are already witnessing a mobilization, the likes of which has not been seen for four years, during his first term in office.
Trump has gotten our elected officials to come together to protect our undocumented migrants from his mass deportation plans.
He got our councilors to dust off and expressly approve the Sanctuary Ordinance that prevents municipal resources from being used to collaborate with federal immigration authorities.
The supervisors then approved a motion to give $5.5 million in funds to organizations that provide legal services to immigrants and educate them about their legal rights.
The only supervisor who voted against was Republican Kathryn Barger, as she said that there is already an immigration crisis under the Biden administration, and that some immigrants without documentation end up on the miserable streets of the feared homeless neighborhood known as Skid Row .
During Trump’s first four years, Los Angeles County prohibited the Sheriff’s Department from transferring undocumented immigrants to ICE, but the sheriff continued to collaborate with federal agents, various advocates reported at the time.
We have also seen a tremendous mobilization of migrant leaders and pro-immigrant organizations in squares and streets.
These actions by council members, supervisors and leaders are worthy of applause because our migrants, who are estimated at around 800,000 in the county, are the backbone of the Los Angeles economy, and need support in the form of free legal assistance or at low cost.
According to the Migration Policy InstituteFrom the beginning of fiscal year 2021 to February 2024, the Biden-Harris administration had deported 1.1 million versus 1.5 million in Trump’s first four years.
To this figure, we must add the three million expulsions of migrants at the border thanks to Title 42. Of course, many were not from Biden, but from Trump; and many were on the border, not in the interior, but in the end, they hit us hard. According to MPI, there are almost 4.4 million repatriations from the Biden government, more than in any other presidential term. The only precedent that was even more serious occurred under the administration of George W. Bush with 5 million deportees in his second term.
Because 54% of Biden’s 1.1 million deportees were forced returns, the MPI named him “Returner in Chief.”
What are we going with all of this, that the presidents are of whatever party they are, in fact, they have been a scourge for our migrant community. Mathematics doesn’t lie.
And how good it feels to see our ruling class and leaders come to the defense of our migrant heroes, but why not do it always; Why wait for an openly anti-immigrant, racist and xenophobic government to arrive to take action.
We would like to see that fierceness and fighting spirit from our elected officials and migrant leaders permanently, no matter what party the president is from.