Trump’s climate of fear among migrants should worry Texans

President Donald Trump’s views on immigration are hard to pin down.

He is a longtime critic of illegal immigration and has embraced a draconian approach to enforcement of our nation’s laws concerning unauthorized entry. But it’s increasingly hard to believe that he’s committed to upholding the law —or that he supports legal immigration, as he has often insisted.

He said in recent days that his administration was looking “very seriously” at ending birthright citizenship, even though doing so would require amending the Constitution to scale back the protections enshrined in the 14th Amendment. The White House also announced that it plans to end the 1997 Flores legal settlement, which caps the number of days that migrant children can be detained.

And earlier this month, the White House announced a new rule stating that immigrants who might become “public charges” — in other words, who receive various forms of public assistance or fail to meet certain income standards — would be barred from obtaining visas.

Many Texans therefore had practical questions for the panelists who gathered at the Magnolia Multi-Service Center in the East End on Wednesday for a town hall on immigration hosted by U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Houston Democrat.

“Are there any efforts in Congress to criminalize the hiring of undocumented workers?” one man asked, adding that he thought employers who did so knowingly ought to go to jail.

An educator asked whether students who hope to go to college will risk disqualifying themselves from legal status if they apply for any form of financial aid, which could be construed as public assistance.

“I’m so ashamed of Trump,” said another woman.

Many Americans were feeling the same way Wednesday evening — even those who are Republicans or generally supportive of Trump.

Trump was, at the time, in a spat with the prime minister of Denmark over the latter’s flat refusal to consider selling Greenland to the United States. And earlier in the day, he had defended his decision to launch a trade war with China by describing himself as a messianic figure.

“I am the chosen one,” Trump explained, during an impromptu news conference on the White House lawn.

As one conservative friend noted the following day, the 2016 election was arguably a gift to America’s historians: Never before have we had such unfettered access to the id of a sitting president.

But Trump’s off-the-cuff comments carry the weight of the federal government. And his rhetoric on immigration, in particular, has created a climate that should trouble all Americans.

Citizens may not be directly affected by the administration’s approach to immigration, but if you live in a city such as Houston — where nearly a quarter of residents are foreign-born — you can’t afford to ignore the fact that Trump’s words and actions are having a chilling effect on immigrants.

“The fear is so great that if people hear about a deportation somewhere — even if it’s not in Houston — there’s a concern that they’ll be here next,” Garcia said, after the forum.

“You’ll see the lower attendance at schools, you’ll see the lower attendance even at church on Sunday, because people are afraid,” she continued.

Several panelists said a decrease in civic participation among immigrants may have implications for next year’s decennial census, as well as the 2020 elections.

“We want to make sure everybody knows that they need to get counted,” said Elizabeth Bille of the NALEO Educational Fund, who urged attendees to warn their friends and neighbors that an undercount in Texas would affect the state’s share of federal funding for priorities such as health care and public education.

Beyond that, though, uncertainty over immigration enforcement has implications for the state’s economy, as well as public safety and workforce development. And Trump isn’t solely to blame for the anxiety that advocates for immigrant families are reporting.

“Fear started happening when the rise in deportations started happening under the Obama administration,” said Cesar Espinosa, the executive director of FIEL Houston, who was born in Mexico City and brought to the United States when he was 6. He took part in the Obama’s administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a temporary work program for young immigrants who were brought here illegally as children. The DACA recipient explained that his parents had warned him against discussing his legal status, but that he had concluded disclosure was important to his work as an advocate.

Garcia added that another inflection point came in 2017, when she was serving in the Texas Senate. That year, the Legislature had a protracted and high-profile debate over Senate Bill 4, a draconian ban on “sanctuary” cities that have policies aimed at limiting cooperation in federal immigration actions. Even before the measure was signed into law in May that year, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo had reported a 43 percent drop in sexual assaults reported by Hispanics, compared with the first three months of the previous year.

And the rhetoric from the state’s Republican leaders hasn’t allayed the concerns elicited by the president’s more strident public statements.

“If we’re going to DEFEND Texas, we’ll need to take matters into our own hands,” wrote Gov. Greg Abbott in an Aug. 2 fundraising letter.

Americans who take a hawkish view on illegal immigration and border security may applaud Trump and his supporters for taking such a muscular stance on both issues.

Texans, however, should remember that there are trade-offs to the president’s actions, and even his rhetoric. erica.grieder@chron.com