DES MOINES, Iowa — One of President-elect Donald Trump's biggest campaign promises was to secure the southern border and carry out mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.
Now, advocacy groups like the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice (MMJ) are worried how this will impact immigrants in Iowa.
“People are afraid, they're confused, and they're looking for ideas of what to do,” Iowa MMJ founding executive director Erica Johnson said.
Iowa MMJ is also concerned about a potential end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and cuts to the use of Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
DACA protects people who came to the US as young children from deportation while TPS allows immigrants to stay in the US if their home country is deemed “unsafe.”
From now until Trump enters office, Iowa MMJ is focused on educating immigrants on their rights and making sure they have an emergency plan in place.
“These are things like, who picks your kids up from school if you're not able to, even planning for what happens to your house if you're no longer in the community,” Johnson said.
Iowa MMJ is looking at re-launching its emergency hotline which was around for Trump's first term. Essentially, people can call the number to get connected with community resources if they are being deported.
“These are local teams that are made up of community leaders, churches, institutions like schools, hospitals, community agencies, all of these different individuals and groups all around the state,” Johnson said.
Johnson ultimately just wants to make sure that all people, no matter their status, have a place in Iowa.
“When I look at the future of Iowa and the future of my kids in the state, I know that we can only have a potentially prosperous future for all of us if we figure out how to welcome immigrants,” Johnson said.
Local 5 reached out to the Trump campaign for a response and haven’t heard anything back yet.