Many immigrants, including those from Guyana and other Caricom countries, residing in the United States are still trying to fully understand the hardline position taken by the US Government on immigration issues. For many of these immigrants, there is some degree of uncertainty regarding their future as they are unsure as to what are the next steps of the Administration.
It is well known that the present Administration campaigned on American nationalistic agenda and it was bought by a majority of American voters. It, therefore, came as no surprise when President Donald Trump, earlier this year, signed a sweeping executive order on immigration, expansively defining the “criminal aliens” he intends to target.
Caribbean nationals, including Guyanese, are among the millions of illegal immigrants living in the US and they were anxiously waiting for the time when they could have their status regularised. Many were hoping that the next US President would have created a path to citizenship for them once they meet certain criteria. However, from what we are witnessing, this might now be in the near future.
For many, there are still a lot of uncertainties as they fear their immigration status could be affected overnight, or the immigration laws which apply to them for certain categories of sponsorship could be changed with very short notice.
Previous US Administrations had focused on removing immigrants with criminal convictions, regardless of whether they have legal residency. However, Trump immigration policies prioritise anyone who has been charged with a crime, whether that person is convicted or not. This includes anyone who has committed “acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offence”, whether or not the person has been convicted, charged or even arrested.
What is of more concern is that the Administration intends to rely much more heavily on state and local law enforcement for making such enforcement determinations. As expected, this has raised some level of concern among immigrant communities.
Just a few days ago, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported that a number of Caribbean nationals, including Trinidadians, Haitians and Guyanese, were nabbed in a three-day immigration sweep. The unidentified Caribbean nationals were among 31 foreigners arrested during the operation “targeting at-large criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and immigration fugitives”. These immigrants will be deported either after serving jail sentences or after an immigration judge hearing.
Also, a number of advocates have reported that they are seeing and hearing about an increasing number of ICE agents in courtrooms, waiting to deport immigrants who might have fallen afoul of the law. The recent actions by immigration authorities have caused many immigrant rights groups and political representatives to speak out. However, the Administration has paid no heed and is moving ahead with its plans to target certain categories of persons for deportation.
In addition to “criminal aliens”, there are other individuals who generally fall outside of this priority deportation category; these include immigrants who arrived as children, immigrant parents of Americans, workers and recent arrivals.
Legal experts have suggested that some undocumented parents of US citizens might qualify for residency through their children. However, they will still face certain barriers to legalisation. For example, wait times for these family visas number many years. Then there is the issue of cost for legal counsel to assist in the process.
Additionally, there are millions of persons who do not have criminal records, but are currently working in the country illegally. These individuals could still be vulnerable if the Administration continues its high-profile workplace raids.
It is still left to be seen the kind of impact President Trump’s immigration policies will have on the Region; however, there is need for Governments to put the necessary systems in place to cater for returning nationals and other migrants, since the present philosophies and policies could lead to a demographic change in the Caribbean over time.
