As immigration and deportation become increasingly prominent topics under President Donald Trump’s second term, Austin faces a potential loss of nearly 107,000 non-citizen immigrants, approximately 10.9% of its population, according to the United States Census Bureau. Across the country, the new immigration policies and enforcement measures threaten thousands of communities more across the country.

One of the ways a person can be deported is through expedited removal, which is when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer rapidly deport an undocumented person or a person who has committed misrepresentation or fraud within two years of their arrival. According to the Vera Institute of Justice, upon taking office, President Trump expanded this policy to include those who were paroled during the Biden administration. Anne Chandler, director of the Texas Immigration Law Council, which serves as a legal resource and advocacy center throughout Texas, explained how Trump’s move to nullify Biden-era policies is causing alarm across Austin. 

“You could not traditionally use [expedited removal] to deport people if they were not apprehended within 14 days of arrival,” Chandler said. “President Trump expanded that to two years. We are on the lookout to see, are they going to use that to apprehend and deport people who cannot prove that they’ve been in the Austin area for up to two years?”

Another form of removal is administrative removal. This is where the U.S. government can remove someone convicted of an aggravated felony or who does not have legal permission to be in the United States. This process is often completed by an administrative immigration judge.

“Some individuals who are being deported from an immigration court in an administrative hearing have literally been waiting and have been present in the United States for six, or seven years.” Chandler said. “The process is broken. There are too many cases in the system.”

Many cities and counties have been realigning their policies regarding immigration and deportation to not run afoul of pressure from the federal government. However, there are sanctuary cities that are currently refusing to cooperate with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to Chandler.

“In Texas, you don’t hear any law enforcement officers say they’re not going to cooperate just because we have specific laws passed at our state level, like SB 420 [and SB 17] that prohibit law enforcement from taking that type of statement,” Chandler said. “When it comes to Texas, you see state agencies– the Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers, and other state entities– taking a more active role in participating with the federal government in enforcement mechanisms than you do in other states.”

Chandler explained that there are a number of ways in which undocumented immigrants can challenge deportation orders, One way is filing a family petition, which is when a U.S. resident or lawful resident files a petition for a foreign relative to immigrate. Another way someone can request removal orders is asylum. 

“Asylum is where somebody actually has a fear of returning to their home country… and they can prove that they’re going to be harmed by the government or an organization that can’t be stopped by the government, then that individual may be able to win something like asylum,” Chandler said. 

The Trump Administration rescinded a memo that was put out by the Office of Management and Budget under the Biden administration that had called for the freezing of certain federal program funding. Some of the programs at risk for a loss of funding were those that provide essential services to immigrants.

“21 states challenged that effort by the Trump administration to freeze grants and freeze financial assistance loans going out if they didn’t comply with the federal government’s policies to protect the nation,” Chandler said. “Under all that pressure from lawsuits and people saying this isn’t right. The government changed its mind.”

Chandler mentioned that she understood President Trump’s interest in fixing the immigration system, and she noted that it greatly needs an update. However, she called for Congress and President Trump to instead rewrite immigration laws to better fit current and future realities.
“This type of approach, one of just mass deportations and enforcement, is really misguided,” Chandler said. “We need something much more comprehensive to get us set for the next century.”

Deportations have an effect on many different workforces and communities, including education. Sara James, a kindergarten teacher, works at a low-income elementary school where the majority of the population is Latino or Hispanic. James expressed her understanding of the call for increased deportations, saying that she believes people who are causing constant harm to others should face some sort of punishment. However, she conveyed her worry for the many families who have immigrated to the U.S., both documented and undocumented, as they have sacrificed a great deal to get here.

“America is seen as this place where you get to fulfill your dreams,” James said. “They’re coming here to do exactly what America has portrayed itself to be. With the deportation, it’s going back on what America is said to be, what America is supposed to be.”

James described how the immigrant communities she grew up in and continues to teach in were safe, protective, and supportive atmospheres. She works to make sure every student feels safe in the classroom and to inform their parents about their rights.

“I’m not Hispanic myself, but this is my family,” James said. “These are my people. This is my community. So we’re all here, really to support them and to support whoever needs our help.”

According to James, there has been a large drop in attendance out of fear of being in an ICE raid. She mentioned how it feels eerie to be in a classroom with so few students. She still continues to support the remaining students as much as possible.

“I teach kindergartners, so they’re only five and six years old,” James said. “They don’t even know what’s going on in the world that they live in, but they’re seeing it firsthand with their parents, or seeing the fear. They’re hearing the conversations at home, and they’re feeling secondhand whatever they’re surrounded with.”

James explained that she wished people better understood how to empathize with immigrants because sometimes undocumented immigration is the only option for a safe life for their family. According to her, recognizing the sacrifices parents have made for their children and their potential faults is important as we continue through new legislation.

“The lack of empathy and the lack of perspective and just being able to sympathize with others is a big issue,” James said.

John Goodell is a Latino AP Government and AP U.S. History teacher at LASA with a background in law, having served as a military lawyer and in Texas state agencies. He emphasized the importance of respecting the law while reflecting on how stricter policies may have impacted his own family.

“The president’s executive order struck me personally as pandering to some of the members of his base who would want that,” Goodell said. “If that had actually occurred, it would have been a complete disaster for him publicly.”

Goodell also discussed the variability of each situation. While doing his best to remain unbiased while presenting to his students, Goodell mentioned speaking to his classes about some of the many possibilities in immigration and deportation cases and that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ story to immigration.

“We have a court process for this,” Goodell said. “Just because somebody has deportation proceedings started against them doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be an asylum request on the road. Each case is specific and so there is an asylum process that’s separate from the immigration process. It’s like an offshoot.”