SHOCK & AWFUL: MASS DEPORTATION, APPOINTMENTS AND IMMIGRATION
The Trump team on immigration is taking shape and it is ugly. Noted white nationalist Stephen Miller and family separation architect Thomas Homan will be appointed to major immigration policy positions that will not require Senate confirmation and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will head DHS – all of whom send disturbing signals about the immigration direction of the second Trump term. America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas said these appointments are “a signal that they want to go for maximum disruption with minimal oversight by Congress or the courts. Trump and his allies want to expand the definition of ‘criminal’ and make as many people as possible deportable.” Read more on Homan and Miller here and here. AV has focussed on two aspects of the coming immigration assault: 1) how expansive mass deportation will be, encompassing those with deep roots, temporary legal status, TPS, DACA and even U.S. citizens, despite claims that they will “go after criminals;” and 2) the economic implications of mass deportation combined with deep cuts to legal immigration and the price all of us will pay in U.S. jobs, GDP, tax revenues, deficits, and inflation. “The cruelty and human toll that will come from unsparing and indiscriminate mass deportations will be incalculable, but we likely will be able to quantify the economic costs of Donald Trump’s promised mass deportations,” said Douglas Rivlin, Senior Director of Communication for America’s Voice. “Let’s be clear: Trump’s mass deportation agenda will act as a wrecking ball for working families.”
WRONG EXITS: AMERICAN ELECTION POLLING PROJECT FINDINGS
The two main exit polls used across media organizations got certain details wrong – and not for the first time – when it comes to voting by African Americans, Native Americans, Asian and Pacific Islander and Latino voters, according to analysis of the 2024 American Electorate Voter Poll (AEVP). The project started (by UnidosUS) several election cycles ago is intended to counter the systemic problems with news organization exit polls that tend to misrepresent voting by people of color. This year, the massive poll – 9400 plus interviews from Oct 18 – Nov 5 with people who actually voted conducted by BSP Research and the African American Research Collective, with backing form a dozen advocacy and interest groups (including AV) across a range of issues – included oversamples for Puerto Rican voters, oversamples for several key states and interviews in multiple languages. Consistent with news organization exit polls, the AEVP data showed strong support for legalization over mass deportation, despite the election outcomes, leading Cárdenas to conclude on a press webinar, “Trump does not have a mandate for mass deportations or sending in the military to round up our immigrant neighbors.” The Latino data found that, contrary to some findings reported by the network exit polls, Latino voters supported Harris overall (62%-37%), and she won the Latino vote in every state except Florida and won a majority of Latino men (56%-43%). You can explore the full data and crosstabs at https://2024electionpoll.us/ and look at Latino data at the Latino voter data hub (https://unidosus.org/hispanicvote/polling-issues/).
LATINOS REJECTED DEPORTATION, BUT TRUMP IS STILL OILING UP THE MACHINE
In her weekly column, America’s Voice consultant Maribel Hastings writes that Trump simply doesn’t have a mandate to carry out his violent mass deportation agenda. While it’s true that he did increase his support among Latino men, the fact is that the majority of this demographic, and Latinos overall, went for Vice President Harris and overwhelmingly favored legalization over mass deportation. “Among Latinos, the economy was the central factor for supporting Trump, which led activists and analysts to agree that Trump’s mandate must be to reduce the price of food and housing, among other items.” But she writes that Trump has been nominating extreme figures “motivated by more than economic worries.” Trump’s new deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, is a defender of eliminating birthright citizenship, taking citizenship from those who naturalized, and was pivotal in implementing the cruel and traumatic family separation policy. “And it’s not only about undocumented immigrants,” Hastings continues. “They focus on authorized immigrants under programs like DACA, TPS, and asylum, including those with humanitarian parole. The idea is to leave them unprotected and vulnerable to deportation.” Even though Trump’s mandate is economic, his actions are oiling up the deportation machine. Her column was also published in several outlets, including La Opinión, El Tiempo Latino, and Hispanic LA. Read her column in English here and Spanish here.
WHO IS INCOMING BORDER CZAR THOMAS HOMAN?
Trump also announced that Thomas Homan, a Project 2025 contributor and former acting ICE director under his first term, will be his new “border czar” to help carry out the ”bloody” mass deportation agenda that was the signature economic promise of his 2024 presidential campaign. Homan is an idealogue who is unlikely to be swayed by public pressure, meaning he is likely to overreach, especially as his deportation force inevitably begins to disrupt the lives of the whole country, including the MAGA base. Remember that as recently as October, Homan was defending the deportation of U.S. citizens along with their undocumented family members. But it was no secret that Homan would return in a potential second Trump term, last year revealing that he’d met with Trump in 2022 and had “agreed to come back” to “help to organize and run the largest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.” He continued to reiterate this violent vision throughout 2024 saying in April that “No one should be off the table.” Following reports on some of his own shocking words threatening millions of families across the U.S., Homan tried a bit of a backtrack on his extreme statements targeting undocumented communities. But those are largely about providing supporters and those looking for plausible deniability that Homan’s horrific and bigoted politics are not nearly as bad as they are. He means what he says, and we should believe him. Read more here.
TOGETHER WE CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR IMMIGRANTS
Like you, we’re still reeling from the results of the election. Many folks in our communities are scared. But as Vanessa Cárdenas said, we want you to know that we’re going to continue to stand up, speak out and fight for the millions of undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in our nation for years. Click here to read our executive director’s statement and let’s keep spreading the message that immigrants will always be essential to our nation.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS
Following the news of Trump’s reelection, leaders from United We Dream Action, CHIRLA in California, Living United for Change (LUCHA) in Arizona, Make the Road Action Pennsylvania, the Advancing Universal Representation Initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement – FIRM and more had a message: we will not back down. On Wednesday, the leaders held a virtual press call to discuss immediate priorities as a movement to fight back against Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda. The leaders also offered powerful and heartfelt words to communities that are unsure about what tomorrow holds. “Knowing Our Rights is the best protection from deportation,” said CHIRLA’s Areli Hernandez (see the organization’s Know Your Rights resources here). “We stand ready to lead defensive action but more importantly we join in a Call to Action on proactive commitments from elected officials and allies,” said Fair Immigration Reform Movement’s Mireya Reith. “Our Servicios department will be at the forefront, providing crucial resources, education, and support for our immigrant community,” said LUCHA’s Karime Rodriguez. “Trump may be re-elected but he does not have a mandate to come into and rip apart our communities,” said United We Dream Action’s Greisa Martinez Rosas. “We will not retreat into fear and despair. We are home. And we are here to stay.” Listen to the full recording here.
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