On March 15, Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act — a 1798 law that allows the president to deport noncitizens from a country the U.S. is at war with — against hundreds of immigrants, claiming they were all members of a Venezuelan prison gang.
The Trump administration, which has proclaimed the members of these gangs “terrorists” and an “invading force,” has not identified who was deported, provided any evidence they are gang members or that they committed any crimes in the U.S.
This is one of the most recent moves in Trump’s plan to remove undocumented immigrants from the country by any means necessary. Since taking office for his second term on Jan. 20, he has issued nearly a dozen executive orders related to immigration, declaring “an invasion” of “illegal immigrants” were coming across the U.S.-Mexican border.
Trump’s immigration-focused orders include “Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion,” which suspends all physical entry into the U.S. at the southern border; “Securing Our Borders,” which directs the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to “take all appropriate and lawful action to deploy sufficient personnel along the southern border … to ensure complete operational control”; and, most controversially, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” It attempts to redefine how an individual receives U.S. citizenship at birth.
The order proposes that the 14th Amendment “…has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States”; however, many legal experts argue that the 14th Amendment clearly states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
“Not only is the Constitution clear but it says all persons born in the United States are subject to its jurisdiction. It is based on no authority at all. [Trump] has authority to run the State Department, and possibly the administration of passports, but not to contravene a constitutional amendment,” says Stephen Shaiken, a criminal and immigration attorney from Tampa.
Shaiken has practiced law for over 35 years and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a national organization for lawyers in the same field of law.
AILA provides resources for practicing attorneys including access to available government documents, various types of administrative or court cases and liaisons for assistance. With the organization, Shaiken, who represented clients faced with deportation due to being convicted of criminal offenses, has been working pro bono this year representing clients affected by the Trump administration’s executive orders.
“Most of them are absolutely terrified,” says Shaiken. “People are afraid that if they send their kids to school, will their kids come home? Even if the kids were born here because Trump is saying if they are not citizens, they are deportable.”
The previous administration approached the enforcement of federal immigration laws differently as executive orders were enacted by the Biden Administration to aid what they called “legal immigration.” In February 2021, former President Joe Biden issued an executive order that required the White House Domestic Policy Council to re-establish a Task Force on New Americans to organize integration and inclusion efforts for immigrants, including refugees. His administration also sought to preserve and fortify Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, a program that allows undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to work and live in the country without fear of deportation.
Someone who understands these struggles is Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet. Sousa-Lazaballet came to the U.S. from Brazil when he was 14 years old, losing his immigration status six months later. As a Dreamer — a child brought to the U.S. without documentation — Sousa-Lazaballet has been a voice and advocate for the approximately 653,000 other Dreamers in the U.S.
In 2010, Sousa-Lazaballet was one of four students — and the only LGBTQ+ person — who participated in the Trail of Dreams, a 1,500-mile walk from Miami to Washington, D.C. to promote human rights, stop the deportations of current undocumented students and to support the DREAM Act.
“I know exactly what it’s like to get in your car and not know if this is the last day you’ll get to live your American dream,” Sousa-Lazaballet says. “I know what it’s like to graduate from high school and cross that stage hopeless instead of filled with hope.”
According to the Williams Institute, there are an estimated 289,700 LGBTQ+-identified individuals among the adult undocumented immigrant population, representing approximately 3% of undocumented adults in the U.S.
“Living in the intersection of xenophobia, racism and homophobia or transphobia has an exponential impact on a person’s life. Many people have to go back into the closet to find services, support systems or things of that nature, and the closet is destructive to the human spirit,” Sousa-Lazaballet says.
As executive director of the Hope CommUnity Center, Sousa-Lazaballet and the organization serve about 20,000 people every year through the organization’s various programs. They provide service learning that invites young people from across the country to immerse themselves in different cultures and learn about the lived experiences of immigrants. In addition, there is a leadership development program that teaches organization, advocacy and trains the youth to become leaders in their community.
Through his lived experiences as well as in his day-to-day job, Sousa-Lazaballet has observed how the current administration’s immigration plan is impacting real people. Simply put, he says “folks are afraid.”
“Every day, I go to work, I hear heart-wrenching stories of people who are being deported, detained families torn apart and children left with no one to take care of them. And it’s difficult to see that happen because I know them. They are my friends and even my own family members. That becomes a driving force for my advocacy,” says Sousa-Lazaballet.
The current political climate, both in Washington and in Tallahassee, has led Sousa-Lazaballet, who became a U.S. citizen in 2021, to recently announce he is running for the Florida House.
“The truth of the matter is that folks in Tallahassee are focusing on the wrong things,” he says. “They are focusing on demonizing LGBTQ+ people, demonizing trans people, demonizing immigrants, instead of focusing on what we actually deserve — an opportunity to thrive.”
If he wins the race, Sousa-Lazaballet would become the first Dreamer to be elected to the Florida House.
Fidel Gomez Jr. is another advocate for immigrant rights at Hope CommUnity Center. They are the organization’s LGBTQ+ immigrant justice organizing manager. As a transgender Latinx first generation born in Washington, D.C., Gomez has seen firsthand how immigrants are affected by the recent legislation.
“As a child of immigrants, it’s important for me to make sure I am helping my community,” Gomez says.
Gomez operates a variety of initiatives at Hope CommUnity Center, including the social group Queer Transgender Immigrants, called QTIs for short, a monthly meeting that acts as support and a safe space. Gomez says the attacks on the immigrant community have added additional challenges to the transgender community, which has also been under attack by the Trump administration, especially in health care.
“It has been a lot on top of advocating and helping people get connected to different resources, especially if they are an immigrant and are transgender looking for a gender-affirming clinic,” Gomez says. “As somebody from the Latin community, there are already a lot of challenges navigating your LGBTQ+ identity, Latinidad, and finding acceptance. The spaces that exist now are morphing into safe spaces where people are being intentional on how we’re showing support and showing up for those communities.”
With so many policy changes and attacks coming from the Trump administration, what can LGBTQ+ immigrants do to help safeguard themselves?
Shaiken urges undocumented immigrants to make sure they understand their constitutional rights, such as the right to remain silent and their right to an attorney. As frightening as the scenario may be if an undocumented immigrant is confronted by law enforcement, Shaiken says, do not lie or resist under any circumstances. Shaiken adds that most judges understand you have the right to remain silent but not the right to lie.
“Remember that you have no obligation to provide any information to an immigration officer,” he says. “They need to have some basis to suspect a person is not here with authorization and there is no requirement to assist them in any way. If they do not have a warrant, you do not have to let them into your place of business, house or any other place that isn’t normally open to the public. You must also understand that pleading and sobbing will do no good, especially if they have a warrant. If you see a loved one or friend taken into custody, observe what is happening and get a lawyer.”
Both Sousa-Lazaballet and Gomez emphasize that there are resources offered in your local community. Hope CommUnity Center is one such resource that can help to prepare individuals and families in case of raids or interactions with authorities.
The organization’s “Know Your Rights” training teaches members about their constitutional rights and gives informational cards written in various languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole.
“With ICE raids and people being deported, there are ways to get information as well as attend trainings that emphasize knowing your rights,” says Gomez. “We here at the Hope CommUnity Center are offering workshops so people can better understand, such as what is the right thing to do if ICE shows up at your door, what are the right questions to ask and if you don’t know how to say it, there is a card you can show the officer.”
Hope CommUnity Center offers “fairs, workshops and clinics in which members of the community act out different scenarios they may encounter with law enforcement officers or immigration officers. During these community gatherings, families also prepare Dignity Plan and Protection packets that demonstrate their length of time residing in the U.S., the status and needs of their Permanent Resident or U.S. Citizen Children, and their good moral character,” according to their website. Additionally, they work with members of the community to ensure the safety of their children, finances and possessions through the preparation of power of attorney documents.
“Take the time to at least study some of the issues,” Shaiken adds. “If you are an immigrant, married to an immigrant or you have friends who are immigrants, that is something you should study. If you are a federal employee or union worker, you should study your rights. Pay attention to what’s going on, at least in the areas that affect you the most and be very careful about the news media you use.”
Despite the new challenges immigrants are now facing, Sousa-Lazaballet says now is not the time to lose hope and know that there are people fighting for you every day, and for those not directly impacted but want to help, he says that now is the time to get involved.
“Alone we are vulnerable but together we are strong,” he says. “Join organizations like the Hope CommUnity Center and many others in our city or region and listen to the stories of those impacted.”
To learn more about how you can safeguard yourself as an immigrant or if you want to learn more about how you can help, visit HCC-OFFM.org. If you want to report an immigration raid, call the Florida Immigrant Coalition hotline at 888-600-5762.
