From snowy cities to Mexican border

As snow fell outside, worshipers gathered at Lincoln United Methodist Church in Chicago to pray and prepare for what will happen when Donald Trump takes office next week, when the president-elect has promised to begin the largest deportation of undocumented immigrants in US history.

“Twenty minutes [of January] we’ll be here before we know it,” Pastor Tanya Lozano-Washington told the congregation, as she served hot cups of hot chocolate and Mexican coffee to warm the crowd of about 60 people.

Located in Pilsen, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, the church has long been a supporter of immigrants to the large Hispanic community. But Sunday services are now only in English, as Spanish-language services have been discontinued.

The decision to move them online was made out of fear that the meetings could be monitored by anti-immigrants or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The incoming president has said he will deport millions of immigrants, threatening to deport them, and reports suggest he will. Repeal long-standing laws that have made churches immune to ICE arrests.

According to another church member, American-born David Cruseno, “the threat is real.

Cruseno said her mother entered the country illegally from Mexico but has worked and paid taxes in the US for 30 years.

“With the new leadership coming in, it’s like torture,” he told the BBC. “I feel like we’re being discriminated against and looked at unfairly, even though we get along. [with] this world forever.”

But across the country, more than 1,400 miles (2,253km) south in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, some immigrants have a starkly different view of the upcoming implementation — a sign of how deeply divided Latino communities are over illegal immigration by Donald. Trump’s approach to the US-Mexico border.

“Emigration is necessary…

“But with Trump, we’ll do better.”

The area is separated from Mexico only by the river’s dark, shallow, narrow waters and lush green foliage and mesquite – locals say the daily experience of living on the border has opened their eyes to what many see. such as the threat of illegal immigration.

“I’ve had families [of migrants] come and knock on my door, asking for water, shelter,” said Amanda Garcia, a resident of Starr County, where nearly 97% of residents identify as Latino, making it the most Latino county in the US outside of Puerto Rico.

“We did a scene where a girl was alone with two men, and you could tell she was tired – and she was being abused.”

Many interviews in the two states of the Rio Grande Valley – Starr and neighboring Hidalgo – residents described other incidents related to the border, from waking up to migrants in their places to witness cartel stash houses used for drugs, or dangerous chases between the authorities and smugglers.

Many of the Latino community in Texas are also immigrants, or the children or grandchildren of immigrants. While a reliable Democratic group in Texas “Red”, Starr County favored Trump in the 2024 election – the first time the county has been won by Republicans in more than 130 years.

Nationally, Trump won about 45% of the Latino vote – a huge 14 percentage point increase compared to the 2020 election.

The victory in Starr County, locals say, was in no small part due to Trump’s actions at the border.

“We live in a world of order and law,” said Demesio Guerrero, a US citizen of Mexican origin who lives in the town of Hidalgo, across the international bridge from the cartel-affected Mexican city of Reynosa.

“We have to make it [to say] who go in and out,” added Mr. Guerrero, speaking in Spanish only meters from the purple, tall iron bars that represent the end of the US. “Otherwise, this country is lost.”

Like other supporters of Trump in the Rio Grande Valley, Guerrero has said – repeatedly – that he is “not against immigrants”.

“But they have to do it the right way,” he said. “Like the others.”

Trump “is not against immigrants, or against racism,” agreed Marisa Garcia, a resident of Rio Grande in Starr County.

“We are tired of them [undocumented immigrants] come and think that they can do whatever they want on our property or our land, and take advantage of the system,” he added.

Support for deportation is so strong that the Texas state government gave Donald Trump 1,400 acres (567 hectares) of land outside the city of Rio Grande to build a detention center for undocumented immigrants – a move opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU ) of Texas explained. such as “mass detention” which “will promote human rights violations”.

Although the site – which is located between a peaceful street leading to the market and the Rio Grande – is currently quiet, the city officials believe that it can be useful in the area.

“If you look at the development, it’s very good for the economy of the city,” Rio Grande city manager Gilberto Millan told the BBC.

“It has a negative feel to it, obviously, being a detention center,” he said. “You can see it that way, but obviously you need a place to house these people.”

The number of immigrants to Mexico has fallen sharply – and last month’s crossing was the lowest since January 2020.

But the issue still lingers on the streets of cities like Chicago, far from the southern border.

It is one of several Democratic-controlled cities that have enacted so-called “sanctuary city” laws that limit local police cooperation with immigration officials.

In response, starting in 2022, Republican governors in southern states like Texas and Florida will send thousands of migrants north on buses and planes.

Tom Homan, Trump’s pick to lead the border, told a group of Republicans in Chicago last month that the Midwestern city would be “ground zero” for mass deportations.

“On January 21st, you’re going to see a lot of ICE agents in your city looking for criminals and criminals,” Homan said. Believe it. It will happen.

Many local politicians, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the state’s governor, JB Pritzker, have continued to push back on sanctuary city laws, known as the “Welcoming City” law here.

But this policy is not universally liked. In November, Trump made gains in many Latino states.

Recently, two Democratic Hispanic lawmakers tried to change the law and allow Chicago police officers to cooperate with local authorities. Their measure was closed on Wednesday by Johnson and the forwards.

Meanwhile, worshipers at Lincoln United Methodist are making plans and watching carefully as they watch Trump’s plans unfold.

“I’m scared, but I can’t imagine how undocumented people feel,” said D Camacho, a 21-year-old Mexican immigrant who attended the church Sunday.

Mexican officials in Chicago and elsewhere in the US have said they are working on a mobile phone that will allow Mexican migrants to alert relatives and authorities if they are being arrested and deported.

Mexican officials have described the plan as a “panic button”.

Organizers at Lincoln United are also reaching out to legal professionals, advising local residents on how to manage their finances or arranging child care if they are evicted and helping to create identification cards with the visitor’s family details and other information in English.

And several second-generation immigrants said they are working to improve their Spanish, so they can provide legal information or interpret for immigrants being interviewed by authorities.

“If one of the five children is taken, who will take them? Will they go to social networks? Will the family be divided?” said Rev Emma Lozano – Reverend Tanya Lozano-Washington’s mother and longtime activist and church leader.

“Those are the kinds of questions that people have,” he said. “‘How can we protect our families – what is the plan?’