Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is preparing raids against undocumented migrants across the country this weekend. This has local residents in the Latinx community scared. KUNR's Stephanie Serrano has more.
Daysi Rodriguez is an outreach coordinator with Tu Casa Latina, a local nonprofit that provides resources for undocumented families. She says since the news broke of potential ICE raids, the organization has been receiving anxious calls from immigrants who are scared of being deported, and this isn't the first time.
"I think a lot of families, they go into crisis mode. [They say,] 'I'm going to protect my family; I'm not going to leave my house,' and, more so, I think the impact on our families is so much deeper than that,” Rodriguez said. “We hear about children going to school with suitcases telling their teachers, faculty, that they're scared that their parents will be deported."
The Trump administration originally proposed these raids last month. Rodriguez says this is an ongoing issue that affects everyone in the household.
"This is not something that is an adult problem, and it is something we should tell children that this is something that the adults are going to figure out, so that they don't have to worry," Rodriguez said. "I think that's really important for immigrant parents who have that fear to discuss that with their children because if they're having that fear, their children are having that fear as well."
She says deportation isn't the community's only concern. The organization will also take part in Friday's Lights for Liberty vigil to protest the mistreatment of migrants at the Southern border.
