Northwest Indiana immigration attorney Alfredo Estrada said he’s been preparing his clients to know their rights as President Donald Trump assumes his second term in office.
Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, his team announced plans for deportation arrests targeting more than 300 people in the Chicago area beginning this week. Estrada, who has clients in Chicago, said none of them had been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as of Tuesday afternoon.
Since November, the immigrant community has felt an increased anxiety, Estrada said. As Trump’s inauguration drew near, Estrada said many of his clients reached out to him with questions and concerns about Trump’s rhetoric.
“We’ve been preparing our clients for a while. We’re not waiting for the day of. We get out in front of things here, so our clients are pretty well versed in what to do. Today has been a little bit heightened, but we’ve been in front of this quite a bit,” Estrada said Tuesday.
Sophia Arshad, a Merrillville attorney who works on immigration cases, said Tuesday none of her clients have reached out to her about the deportations in Chicago, but that many clients have called her “with fear regarding new policies.”
Anyone with questions about Trump’s immigration policies should reach out to attorneys and organizations that are set up to help, Arshad said.
Estrada said he reminds his clients when speaking to them that in the event an ICE officer stops them they have due process rights, the right to be treated humanely, the right to remain silent, the right to ask to speak with an attorney, and the right to request a hearing.
Under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Estrada said his clients are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. Under the Fourteenth Amendment, Estrada said the families of his clients have citizenship through birthright and, further, his clients cannot be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.
“We have all types of ways to protect them and their families, and we go through that,” Estrada said. “But the number one is we advise them of their rights and that the Constitution is not just for Americans. It doesn’t matter where you were born or your skin color, they have to treat you fairly and allow you to defend yourself.”
The majority of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. do not have a criminal record, Estrada said. ICE officers have discretion about whether or not to detain someone they stop, Estrada said.
“Each encounter is going to be different,” Estrada said.
The Trump Administration’s main goal with the rhetoric and plans for mass deportations has been fear, Estrada said. Trump wants people living in other countries to be fearful of coming to the U.S., he said.
As Trump moves forward with deportations, Estrada said families will be torn apart, which will impact everyone living in an immigrant community.
For example, children in schools won’t be able to concentrate in class if their parents are detained, Estrada said. The child going through that stress could distract other classmates, which impacts learning for all, he said.
“We’re going to look to galvanize local communities to work together. Luckily here in the region, we have good people who understand what it’s like to be not listened to, to be unable to speak for yourself, and to stand up for others. We’re going to have to do that during this time,” Estrada said.
Ultimately, Trump will deport some people, but he doesn’t have the resources for his proposed mass deportation, Estrada said. In the meantime, he will likely waste a lot of taxpayer dollars on deportations to create false problems to then create false heroes.
“He’s talk. He’s fear,” Estrada said. “Fear is his biggest sword.”
