JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When President Donald Trump took office, he signed many executive orders including some on immigration.
The crackdown on immigration and his aggressive agenda of deporting undocumented migrants has left many families in a state of panic.
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“It’s a hysterical flood of people trying to get whatever they can do done,” immigration attorney Rebecca Black said.
Black said she’s received an overwhelming number of calls ever since President Trump took office.
His administration has opened the door for federal agents to arrest immigrants in schools, churches, and hospitals.
Action News Jax spoke with one immigrant born in Honduras who recently became a resident. She wanted to remain anonymous to protect her loved ones who are from Honduras.
“Everybody is scared. They don’t want to go work and stuff or go out because they think that they might find a surprise there,” an anonymous woman said.
It’s a surprise she said her family doesn’t want to find out.
“When I was little, like about 8 years old, we came to this store with my mom, and we were still not legal here,” the anonymous woman said. “And we seen immigration cars sitting out there and saw people sitting out on the sidewalks … and I was terrified.”
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The anonymous woman told Action News Jax she remembers what it was like to be scared.
“I feel sad for the kids… because I lived that before,” she said.
President Trump is also allowing authorities to begin removing more than a million migrants who were legally admitted to the U.S.
“You build this anti-terrorism operation to deport a bunch of house painters,” Black said.
The Trump administration said ICE will prioritize violent criminals, but they also said criminal history doesn’t matter to them.
“If you are an individual, a foreign national who illegally enters the United States of America, you are by definition a criminal,” the White House’s new press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said.
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While Black hasn’t heard about any ICE agents raiding Jacksonville yet, she said people are worried about what could happen to those with spouses.
“It’s a long process,” Black said. “So, what is the status of people who are halfway through, but they don’t have anything really that give them legitimate ability to be here?”
The anonymous woman said this impacts her friends and family who working to put food on the table.
“They should go for people who actually have records, and not for people who working to provide for their families and stuff, so hopefully it gets better,” the anonymous woman said.
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