When would-be immigrants Bernardino and Samuel got word in Mexico of the election of Donald Trump, they immediately gave up their plans to cross illegally into the United States.
The
rhetoric that originally fueled the billionaire populist's rise to
power was built around his ambitious promises to deport the 11 million
undocumented immigrants living in the US and to build a 'big, beautiful,
powerful wall' along the border with Mexico.
Now, with the New York Republican's stunning victory Tuesday, fear and uncertainty are surging among undocumented immigrants.
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Round-up: Illegals crossing the border
near Rio Grande City, Texas, last Christmas - when they were caught by
Border Patrol officers. Now illegals say they do not want to cross
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Caught: A group of illegals handcuffed together after being caught crossing the border in Texas
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Crackdown:
Illegals now say they do not want to cross for fear of getting caught
and creating difficulties for their families who are in the United
States already
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Stop here: The border between the
United States and Mexico at Ciudad Juarez, one of the busiest crossing
points - and where illegals say they are giving up their attempts to
cross
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Build that... fence: This 18-foot tall
barrier in New Mexico is the work of the Democratic administration of
Barack Obama, who ridiculed the wall
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End of the line: The armored fence at Tijuana ends in the Pacific to stop the beach being used by illegals
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On the move: Illegals were captured on
Mexican authorities' security cameras as they crossed the Rio Grande
some time before Trump's victory
Will
their workplaces be raided? Will there be mass expulsions? Greater
obstacles to gaining legal status? What will happen? No one knows.
Samantha
Yanez had not caught a wink of sleep. She arrived in the US at the age
of six and now, at 21, she knows no other reality.
But
she has no papers. Because she arrived as a child, she was granted
temporary legal status by executive order of President Barack Obama.
But Trump has sharply criticized that program and could end it when he takes office in January.
'It's as if I didn't have a country; I'm a foreigner in the only country I know,' Samantha said, her voice quaking.
'I'm insecure. I feel anger, sadness -- betrayed by the American dream,' she added.
Bernardino,
a 34-year-old Honduran who declined to give his last name, was looking
for a 'coyote' to help him slip into the United States near the border
city of Tijuana when he abandoned his plan. So did 18-year-old Samuel, a
Salvadoran.
Both men said they feared that if they are caught, their family members living north of the border might suffer.
'Imagine if they stop me, after a while my family living over there would have problems.
'The truth I
never imagined is that the blond man might win,' Samuel said at Padre
Chava's breakfast hall, a soup kitchen in downtown Tijuana that provides
food and clothing for more than 1,000 immigrants every day.
Some 65 percent of Hispanic voters supported Democrat Hillary Clinton, but that was not enough to defeat her Republican rival.
The
election result left many Hispanics - the largest minority in the
country, at 55 million strong - with long, tearful, worried faces.
'We
are living in uncertainty, very worried, because we don't know what is
going to happen,' said Libertad Sanchez, a 50-year-old Ecuadoran
hairdresser who lives in New York and, even after 17 years in the
country, still has no papers.
Jose
Alejo, however, insists he is not worried. Undocumented in the United
States for 22 years, he has never had problems. Having absorbed a bitter
defeat -- 'I had hoped to have a female president' -- he says he will
go on working.
Every
day at sunrise he arrives at a community center in Pasadena (15 miles,
or 25 kilometers, from Los Angeles), where painting, construction,
moving, gardening and cleaning jobs are passed out, paying 'enough to
get by.'
There was talk at the center on Wednesday of the 'Trump tragedy.'
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Full steam ahead on the wall: Trump
has yet to speak publicly about his plans in the wake of his victory but
there are no signs yet of demurring
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Open border: This tiny slit in the fence shows a Border Patrol vehicle behind the fence
But
Jose is among those who think that much of the anti-immigrant rhetoric
during the fierce election campaign was simply that - talk - and that in
the end, things will be 'just like with the other presidents: lots of
promises, not much action.'
'Who
harvests the crops in the field? Who washes the dishes in the
restaurants? Have you seen any American - some blond American - doing
it? What would this place be without us?' asks a beefy 47-year-old man.
'And Trump promises to improve the economy, and they need us for that.'
Tough on illegals: The president-elect
has reportedly added anti-immigration Kansas secretary of state Kris
Kobach to his transition team
Experts
predict the white working-class voters who helped propel Trump to the
White House will insist he keep at least some of his promises to curb
immigration, which included a temporary ban on Muslims entering the
United States and 'extreme vetting' of immigrants from countries deemed
at high risk for terrorism.
Hillary
Clinton promised during her campaign to carry out far-reaching
immigration reform. But Obama had promised the same in 2012 before being
blocked by Republicans in Congress.
Many
Hispanics reproach Obama for having deported some 2.5 million people
between 2009 and 2015, more than any other US president, albeit while
sparing certain categories such as childhood arrivals and parents of
legal residents. The record earned him the moniker of 'Deporter in
Chief' from some rights organizations.
The question today among worried Hispanics is whether Trump will deport even more.
The
president-elect has reportedly added anti-immigration Kansas secretary
of state Kris Kobach to his transition team -- news that will not allay
their fears.
