A civil rights organization prepared for the beginning of Donald Trump’s second presidency on Monday with the expectation that Texas is likely to cooperate with mass deportation efforts in cities that may include San Antonio.
During his first term, Trump’s administration conducted worksite raids that impacted workers, communities and employers, according to the National Immigration Law Center.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Trump advisors planned a new round of immigration raids in several major cities — San Antonio, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Denver were among cities expected to be targeted.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), there are some areas like schools, medical facilities and places of worship that are typically protected from raids. Despite this, some organizations are still preparing to protect their communities. The local ABC news station in Chicago reported on a church which moved its Spanish-language Mass online for its churchgoers.
Edgar Saldivar, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said people in the U.S. without legal status still have rights.
“Educational records include immigration status,” he said. “Parents have a right to deny consent to those records. Only a court order or subpoena can access those records. The Fourth Amendment still protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures even in school context.”
Saldivar added that legal precedent prevents states from denying students free public education based on their immigration status.
The ACLU said 287(g) agreements might also become more common. The program allows local law enforcement to identify and process removable non-citizens with criminal or pending criminal charges who have been arrested, or allows ICE to train, certify, and authorize them to serve and execute warrants on non-citizens in their agency’s jail depending on the model a local county signs up for. Houston-area counties with a 287(g) agreement include Chambers, Galveston, Montgomery, Walker, Waller and Wharton.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in September against ICE about records regarding potential immigration detention expansion. On Thursday, the ACLU released documents that show ICE is actively considering proposals to expand its detention capacity in eight states, including Texas.
“The expansion of detention facilities in our communities paves the way for the incoming administration’s cruel mass deportation plans all for the benefit of private prison corporations,” Savannah Kumar, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement. “We should learn from history that expanding dehumanizing detention facilities rather than investing in our community’s basic needs deprives all of us of our freedom, no matter what side of the bars we are on.”
Marian Navarro contributed to this report.