‘My family is so afraid’: N.J. immigrants, advocates describe anxiety in response to Trump

Daniela Velez's parents recently transferred their Burlington County apartment, their bank account, and her younger sister's tuition into their 23-year-old daughter's name.

"My family is so afraid," said Velez, whose parents are undocumented immigrants and brought her to the United States from Venezuela in 2002.

She and others spoke to New Jersey lawmakers Friday about a heightened state of anxiety in the immigrant community under President Trump, who has promised to crack down on illegal immigration.

His administration this week issued directives stating it would "no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from deportation" and calling for the hiring of 10,000 new immigration enforcement officers, along with 5,000 Border Patrol agents.

New Jersey is among the states with the largest populations of immigrants in the country illegally — an estimated 500,000 in 2014, according to the Pew Research Center.

Advocates say fears of deportation have been spreading. "People are having breakdowns," said Roberto Hernandez, director of El Centro, a Catholic Charities of Trenton program that works with immigrants.

Citizens whose parents are immigrants have been seeking help to get power of attorney, while children in his program's youth group have asked what will happen if they have to leave the country, Hernandez told the Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Reform and Federal Relations Committee, which heard testimony but did not take action Friday.

"This is every day," Hernandez said. He also told lawmakers about offices springing up in the area offering immigration services — many of them dubious, he said.

Shannon McKinnon, a staff attorney with the American Friends Service Committee's immigration-rights program in Newark, said attorneys were struggling to advise people correctly "while not unnecessarily stoking fear." The directives issued this week by the Department of Homeland Security "greatly expand" immigration enforcement priorities, meaning "a far wider swath of noncitizens is now targeted for deportation," McKinnon said.

The department did not respond to questions Friday afternoon on how its enforcement in New Jersey has changed or would change as a result of the new directives.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman told the Bergen Record this week that the agency was not conducting raids in New Jersey and was continuing to target people "who might be a threat to national security or public safety."

Dianna Houenou, policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said the state should "prohibit the use of any resources" to assist in federal immigration operations and refuse to cooperate with immigration detainer requests — a policy already in place in some cities and counties.

The state could follow the lead of California, which requires police to inform detainees of their rights before an ICE interview, Houenou said.

Taking "proactive" steps could help assuage fears, said Giancarlo Tello, 27, who leads a state group for undocumented immigrants.

Tello has heard from teachers and counselors who say some students aren't showing up for school, he told lawmakers.

His life also has changed. Recently, Tello accompanied his father on an airplane to "make sure that immigration authorities don't detain him," he said. He has stayed up all night following the news. He went to his first counseling session, provided by Rowan University, where he is pursuing a master's degree.

"And I'm one of the lucky ones," Tello said, referring to his status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The program, which has deferred the threat of deportation for eligible young people and allowed them to work legally, was created by former President Barack Obama; Trump has the power to rescind it.

Velez, who is also a DACA participant, said she had felt "in limbo" since Trump's inauguration.

"After Jan. 20, I don't know what sleep is," she said.