Atlanta immigrants change ways amid threatened deportation crackdown

[mfcorey1]

https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/atlanta-immigrants-change-ways-amid-threatened-deportation-crackdown/eY2yjJhNlg6JQbz44VoVBN/

Maria B.’s memory of Mexico has withered since she came to America. She recalls a red plastic chair from her home in Celaya and a few faces that she’s sure have become unrecognizable with the years.

The world Maria knows is Smyrna, where she has spent nearly three-quarters of her life. But President Donald Trump’s renewed threats to deport undocumented immigrants en masse have the 20-year-old thinking about that chair, those faces and the daunting prospect that her parents will be relegated to the scenes she barely remembers.A DACA recipient because she arrived in the U.S. as a child, Maria can apply every two years for protection from deportation and permission to work. Her eight-year-old sister, who has Down syndrome, was born in the U.S. and is a citizen. Both of Maria’s parents are undocumented, however, meaning they could be detained by immigration authorities at any moment.Trump tweeted on June 17 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would begin a redoubled crackdown on millions of illegal aliens the following week. Then he said five days later that ICE would hold off for a couple weeks. This past Monday, he said ICE would step up deportations after Independence Day.Fearing apprehension, more undocumented immigrants in metro Atlanta have stopped driving to work and leaving their homes on weekends. Some have switched to buses or taxis because passengers typically aren’t asked for identification. More are turning to Facebook and Instagram for information about rumored ICE raids and enforcement hot spots.Maria runs more errands for her mother, so she doesn’t have to leave the house. When her parents do venture out, she calls them at least every hour. If her parents have to go somewhere far, Maria’s 21-year-old sister, also a DACA recipient, tries to drive them.Maria’s last name was not included in this article to avoid identifying her parents. Changes in habits, work and play

Unauthorized border crossings soared to a decade high in May, topping 100,000. Trump and others in his administration have said strict enforcement of immigration laws at the border and within the U.S. will deter future illegal immigration.While some in the immigrant community are merely changing their behavior, others have seen reliable sources of work dry up as wary employers increasingly refuse to contract with undocumented workers.Among them is Higinio, a native of Guatemala who now lives in Canton. He declined to give his last name. When he came to America illegally in 2011, finding work as landscaper was no trouble. He says day labor has become much harder to find the last three years, causing him money troubles, even as the U.S. unemployment rate tumbled to a half-century low.ICE says it has increased enforcement against large employers nationwide since 2018, more than quadrupling the number of I-9 audits opened from the previous year.Higinio stood confidently outside the Atlanta Immigration Court on Ted Turner Drive on a recent Friday morning, waiting for friends in removal proceedings to finish their hearings. More than 50 immigrants were lined up outside, preparing to face judges who could order their expulsion.“I don’t fear much. You can’t live your life that way,” he said in Spanish. “If it is God’s will for me to leave [this country], then I will leave.”