Read new op-ed from America’s Voice Director of Communication Ivonne Rodriguez in Spanish HERE and in English below
Washington, DC — During an interview with Fox & Friends this weekend, Donald Trump reiterated his pledge of mass deportations in a Trump second term, including the promise that the deportations would be unsparing and target long-settled immigrants. As Trump noted: “I’m gonna do the big deportation. The biggest ever … you’ll get rid of 10 really bad ones. And one really beautiful mother … it’s always gonna be tough, it’s not gonna be easy … the way you get rid of them is the local police.” Trump went on to again promise immunity from prosecution for local police carrying out mass deportation.
In a new op-ed at El Diario, New York’s largest Spanish language newspaper, America’s Voice Director of Communication Ivonne Rodriguez writes “El plan de Trump para 2025 desestabilizaría Nueva York,” (“Trump’s 2025 Plans Would Destabilize New York”) highlighting the real-world impact of Trump’s pledged mass deportations on New York and mixed-status families (also read last week’s memo from America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas: “Trump’s Mass-Deportation Plan is the Central Immigration Focus of His 2024 Campaign and Should Be Covered That Way.”)
Below, we share an English translation of the new op-ed from Ivonne Rodriguez, “Trump’s 2025 Plans Would Destabilize New York: Will Republicans Let Him?”
“One of Donald Trump’s central promises in his 2024 campaign is to enact “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history” on the first day of his new presidency. It’s not just rhetoric. Trump and his top aide, Stephen Miller, have been developing plans for years, promising to deploy the military and deputize local police forces to enact massive round-ups, detention, and deportations. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, support their efforts.
Living in New York as an immigrant from Honduras in a mixed-status family, I know Trump is talking about deploying the military to my community. They are promising to come to separate families and decimate my neighborhood with vows of building a “red state army.” An army Miller hopes to send to blue states like New York to carry out the community raids along my streets.
We cannot afford the key promise of the man currently tied in the polls to remain an abstraction. Particularly not a promise with such potentially widespread consequences. Trump’s deportation force would create real costs for real people, regardless of citizenship status. It would be devastating.
In hard dollars and cents, every part of our state relies on the labor of immigrants, including those who lack permanent legal status and undocumented immigrants. In our cities, suburbs, and rural communities, New York has approximately 800,000 undocumented residents – about half in the city.
A newly elected Trump administration deploying their “red state army” to carry out roundups in our communities could be terrible, especially in areas like Onondaga and Erie, where many newcomers have settled. Or Jackson Heights in Queens, where around 63% of the population is foreign-born, and people take pride in hearing over 167 languages spoken when you step outside your home.
It’s important to note that Trump’s plans are not focused on just the most recent asylum seekers and migrants whose arrival in our state has been a recent flashpoint. Approximately 80% or 8.7 million of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants arrived in the U.S. before 2010. Trump’s mass deportation plans would target them and disrupt millions of long-settled families across the country.
It should be unimaginable. But we must imagine it and let people know what it could be like. Miller told the New York Times that their deportation army would be “carrying out workplace raids and other sweeps in public places.”
Importantly, this will not only impact undocumented immigrants. The previous mass deportation, led by Dwight Eisenhower, ended up removing thousands of U.S. citizens. In our state alone, more than 500,000 U.S. citizens live with an undocumented family member. All of them will be at risk.Undocumented individuals and those who have only temporary protections like TPS and DACA holders are not just statistics; they are our family members, friends, classmates, neighbors, and teachers. They care for our children and grandparents, harvest our crops, and tend to our hospital rooms. They are the backbone of many businesses and the heart of our neighborhoods. These are the exact people Trump is campaigning to round up.
Kids come home from school to find their parents missing. Farms will lose workers. Hospitals will lose hundreds of thousands of surgeons and physicians caring for our loved ones. And, don’t think it won’t impact you even if you feel you don’t know undocumented people. You do.
We need to know where Republican Members of Congress from New York stand on this issue. Will Elise Stefanik, Mike Lawler, Brandon William, Nick LaLota, Andrew Garbarino, Marc Molinaro, and Anthony D’Esposito stand by while their constituents’ homes are raided and people in our communities are taken away under Trump’s administration? They must make their positions clear to us before the West Virginia National Guard shows up.
Like most Republicans, these New York representatives like to talk tough about the border and spew lies about our newest neighbors, but this isn’t about the border. This is about what will happen in New York. In their districts. To their constituents. And, again, it’s not us fabricating this nightmare or being hyperbolic. Trump and Miller spell it out. Are the New York Republicans on board with Trump and Miller?
The upcoming election has significant implications for our democracy and city and state. Understanding where elected officials stand on these issues is important, especially those who support former President Trump. Their positions and policies will significantly impact the lives of everyone and the direction of our nation.”
Key Resources
- Read “El plan de Trump para 2025 desestabilizaría Nueva York,” the El Diario op-ed from America’s Voice Director of Communication Ivonne Rodriguez
- Read the America’s Voice memo from Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas: “Trump’s Mass-Deportation Plan is the Central Immigration Focus of His 2024 Campaign and Should Be Covered That Way.”
- Read Rafael Bernal in The Hill, “Immigration group to the press: It’s the mass deportations, stupid”
