Now that President-Elect Donald Trump is set to take over the White House in just a few short months, immigrants across Chicago, Illinois, are worried about what it might mean for their careers and their families. Per Fox 32, the election results are causing considerable concern among local immigrant communities, with many immigrants expressing fears about job security and the possibility of deportation.
Many of Trump’s campaign statements focused on banning or impeding immigration for certain groups. Though many elected officials will only nominally address immigration, one Illinois legislator fears that some of the reforms that have been made to benefit immigrants will have minimal support under the new presidency. If the steps Trump has taken in the days immediately following the election are any indication, these fears may indeed have merit.
As reported by NBC News, Trump made immigration a key component of his campaign from day one, and he has wasted little time putting together a team of well-known, tough-on-immigration conservatives to help carry out his plans. In addition to assembling a transition team of members who support Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S. southern border, he also called upon one of the nation’s staunchest anti-immigration advocates to adopt a key role.
The advocate is well-known for being the driving force behind a much-scrutinized Arizona law that allows authorities who suspect someone might be in the country illegally to require the person to furnish proof of immigration status. Whether Trump’s new team plans to try and make such laws apply nationwide remains to be seen, but its members are preparing the public for “big changes” following the national shift in power set to take place in January.
