Mass deportations, harder paths to citizenship and local police knocking on doors — these are some scenarios foreshadowed in the presidential campaign of former president Donald Trump.
But protections for immigrants still exist regardless of who wins the Nov. 5 election, according to two experts in Wyoming immigration.
“The right to speak with an attorney, the right to remain silent, the right to not open your door if someone knocks on unless they have a warrant signed by a judge — all of those are still intact, regardless of who the president is,” said Rosie Read, founder and legal director of the Wyoming Immigration Advocacy Project in Jackson.
Earlier this week Read led an information session with Wyoming Immigrant Advocacy Project and Immigrant Hope to explain why immigrants would fare worse under a second Trump administration.
“If Former President Trump were to be elected again, we wanted to address some of the campaign promises Trump has been making and sort through which of those are realistic and which are not.”
A few months past its one year anniversary, the Jackson nonprofit represents immigrants seeking legal pathways to citizenship.
Read said that an administration led by Vice President Kamala Harris’ would not differ significantly from current policies.
However, she cautioned that former president Donald Trump has made numerous misleading statements about the immigration process. If elected, though, he would likely face legal obstacles in implementing the changes he has threatened.
Despite what Trump has said on the campaign trail, Read said there are federal immigration processes to remember that neither candidate would be able to change anytime soon.
“Trump talks a lot about a mass deportation effort — the likes of which the country has never seen. He tends to encounter pushback about resource limitations getting in the way of actually implementing such a program,” Read said.
Though Trump has talked about transforming local law enforcement into immigration agents, Read doesn’t anticipate that happening in Jackson anytime soon. Read said she hopes her organization can help residents better understand which threats are legitimate and which are not.
But, she still fears what a second Trump term could mean for Jacksonites and said he would likely bring back aggressive policies like the Muslim-ban or “Remain in Mexico” policy, which banned asylum seekers from pleading cases in the US.
Despite the potential challenges a second Trump term would pose for immigrants, Read said she’s been inspired to see how much Teton County residents have shown up for each other ahead of the election and is hopeful the sentiment carries forward well after the elections are over.
