Therapist Who Treats Illegal Immigrants Says Phone Won’t Stop Ringing Since Trump Victory
A therapist who treats illegal immigrants says her phone has been ringing off the hook since President-elect Donald Trump was declared the winner in the November election.
Muriel Casamayor, a licensed therapist who works with immigrants living in the U.S. legally and illegally, claims she hears daily from people who are horrified by Trump's pledge to embark on the largest deportation program in the country's history, according to local San Diego outlet KPBS.
The president-elect had long pledged to conduct mass deportations, and the GOP made it part of their official platform ahead of its convention in July.
"There's a lot of fear, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of anxiety," Casamyor said, according to KPBS.
"Allow yourself, in a safe space, to express how you are feeling and process that in community," she advised to illegal migrants and others who may be feeling shocked at Trump's plans to enforce immigration laws. "Because that's what we have, at the end of the day, a community to lean on."
Trump handily won the election, securing a total of 312 electoral votes and becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to also win the popular vote since President George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004.
The president-elect had made a number of hawkish immigration proposals while on the campaign trail, such as completing the southern border wall, reviving the Remain in Mexico program and hiring more border patrol agents. In addition to calling for the "largest deportation program in American history," Trump has also pledged to put an end to birthright citizenship for those born on U.S. soil by illegal migrant parents.
The incoming administration appears poised to follow through on a hardline agenda given the picks so far to lead top immigration enforcement roles. The White House transition team has tapped former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director Tom Homan to serve as border czar, Stephen Miller to serve as deputy chief of staff for policy and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Immigrant rights activist Adriana Jasso said she's heard from kids who are afraid for their illegal immigrant parents, according to KPBS.
"We did get phone calls of children who refused to eat during the day," Jasso said. "They were not feeling up to going to school and were asking their parents, 'What's the point?'"
However, the incoming Trump administration may take steps to prevent children from being separated from their parents amid the nationwide crackdowns. During an interview with "60 Minutes" in October, several days before the election, Homan was asked if there was a way to carry out mass deportations without separating families, to which Homan replied, "Of course there is. Families can be deported together."
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