The word uncertainty became a constant among Brazilians and other immigrants on the eve of the inauguration of , which takes place this Monday (20).
The Republican was elected with the aim of restricting some types of visas to foreign citizens. It creates fear in those who are in an irregular situation, but also in those who have their papers up to date.
A Sheet He spoke last week with a dozen immigrants, as well as people who work in associations that support refugees and asylum seekers. The names mentioned in the report are fictitious, precisely because they fear visa cancellation and deportation.
The fear of crossing paths with the immigration service has also grown, and there are associations that are considering resuming services used in the past to alert in real time about the proximity of government agents. Trump’s team plans major operations across the country to apprehend immigrants as early as next week.
“There are people inside their homes who don’t want to open the door because they’re afraid it’s ICE. [Serviço de Imigração e Controle de Alfândegas, em inglês]. They ask for the documents and, in several cases, the person is deported”, says Paula, 46, a hairdresser who lives in Maryland — according to research by Pew Research, one of the states with the highest number of illegal immigrants.
She left Maceió for the USA seven years ago on a tourist visa and stayed in the country. Today, she lives with her husband Juan, 49, who left El Salvador 15 years ago to cross the border between Mexico and the USA in an attempt to find a better life.
Paula spent years in an irregular situation, but recently filed a request for political asylum and is awaiting the court hearing that will determine her fate. She says she suffered abuse from her ex-husband and fears returning to Alagoas because of that. The request guarantees that she can stay in the country. A permanent authorization, however, may only be granted after your case has been judged.
In his first term, Trump made temporary stay more difficult by requiring immigrants to submit an asylum request in their home country to access the category in the US. This type of visa continues to be targeted by the Republican, who claims there are abuses in applications — although there is no evidence to support this claim.
“I’m a little afraid, but that hasn’t stopped me. I came here because I was a missionary, and the Lord spoke to my heart”, says she, who is also a pastor.
Paula reports, however, that she has seen the feeling of uncertainty grow since Trump’s election. According to her, there have been situations, especially in the Republican’s first term, in which ICE agents arrived at workplaces with immigrants to make arrests and, later, deportations. “They took people who did wrong things, but good people too,” he says.
Her husband works in restaurants and remains without any type of document. Unlike his wife, Juan fears being deported by Trump. Neither of them wants to return to their country of origin.
A Pew Research Center survey released last July shows that, in 2022, there would be around 11 million irregular immigrants in the country. Of this total, 230 thousand left Brazil — a jump compared to the previous decade. In 2012, there were around 100 thousand Brazilians living illegally in the USA.
The vast majority of unauthorized immigrants come from Mexico: 4 million. There is a high volume of people leaving countries in South and Central America in search of the American dream. El Salvador, Juan’s country of origin, had 730,000 undocumented immigrants in the US in 2022.
Even with the insecurity, Clara, 32, doesn’t want to leave Donald Trump’s country. She arrived two years ago with her then-boyfriend, Mehmet, of Turkish origin — they later got married on American soil, and today they have a restaurant in California.
The husband had to travel to Türkiye four times during the period and, on the last occasion, he ended up detained at the airport’s immigration for five days accused of abusing his tourist visa. On the verge of being deported, he requested asylum. Today, Clara and her daughter are listed as dependents on Mehmet’s nursing home visa.
Her biggest fear is a possible decision by Trump to make access to asylum more difficult. Therefore, she now says she prefers that the court hearing takes longer to take place, which would mean more guaranteed stay time. “The day he won the election, we considered everything: even divorce and marriage to an American,” he says.
Associations and churches that work with refugees and asylum seekers have promoted lectures in an attempt to combat fear with information. A leader of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac), for example, has been working to inform Haitians in Ohio about the guarantees they have if they are refugees — the status of most of them.
Lawyer Felipe Alexandre, partner at ALFA Alexandre Law Firm & Associates, has been called upon to give lectures and explain how immigrants should proceed to try to regularize themselves. “The election brought a certain amount of anxiety to people. Those who will have to be very worried are the completely illegal person, who has never made any request and who has a criminal record or a deportation order”, he explains.
Despite the climate, there is also a more hopeful group of Brazilians, who support Trump and believe that he will only target immigrants who have committed crimes, leaving out others who are in an irregular situation.
The American dream and the expectation of changing his life was what attracted Décio Dassoler, 44, from Santa Catarina, to the USA. He landed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ten years ago and later moved to Maryland. Graduated in administration, he learned construction techniques in the USA and opened a company in the area, even without documents authorizing him to work or stay legally in the country.
“I pay taxes normally and I continue this fight to try to get the green card [que autoriza a permanência no país]”, account.
Contrary to fears over Trump’s promise of deportations, he says he is optimistic. “The economy during his term was great and benefited the construction area.”
Now, he says he expects a similar situation. “No fear. I’ve seen a lot of people deported, but they did something wrong. They’re always people with criminal records. In my mind, they go after those people first, and there are a lot of people. I’m calm about that because they [os americanos] they need us. And it’s not a small amount,” he says.
According to the American Immigration Council, an immigrant advocacy group, it would cost US$315 billion (R$1.8 trillion) to arrest, detain and deport all 13.3 million living in the US illegally or under revocable temporary status.
