On inauguration day, many demonstrators took to the streets of Grand Rapids to protest President Donald Trump's deportation plans. Michigan Public's Michelle Jokisch Polo talked to those protesting.
Of those was Lester Dominguez, who had his parents at the top of his mind when President Donald Trump talked about plans to deport those without legal status. According to Dominguez, he's experienced what he called the anti-immigration agenda.
“They used to be able to have driver’s licenses, but in 2008 they were not able to renew them and we had to rely on public transportation, walking to get from place to place, and I’ve seen how their lives have been shaken up from laws like that,” Dominguez said.
Then, we discussed some of the executive orders President Trump signed on his first day in office aimed at curtailing immigration at the southern border with Susan Reed, the executive director at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. One of those was one that shut down CBP One, an app that allowed people to check border wait times and permitted migrants to apply to enter the U.S. legally as asylum seekers waiting for appointments to be available, among other things.
"It was designed, again to to create the kind of process that people say they want, the kind of order that people say they want," Reed said. "And with its elimination, it's really chaos by design."
As for undocumented immigrants who are already here and part of the workforce, according to Reed, there's not much that can be done. There is no application process to be naturalized for them.
"I sit down with most undocumented people who are long time residents and they say, 'You're an immigration lawyer, help me apply for something,'" Reed said. "I say, 'There is nothing we can do. There is nothing you can do today. There is no line for you to get in.'"
Hear the full conversation with April Baer on the Stateside podcast above.
GUESTS ON TODAY’S SHOW:
- Michelle Jokisch Polo, producer for Stateside on Michigan Public
- Susan Reed, the executive director at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center
