Saleozi Rojom came to the United States from Senegal a year ago, seeking asylum. Between English classes and studying for his Occupational Safety and Health Administration certification test, Rojom, a former carpenter, spends his day among the thousands of asylum seekers at a shelter in Clinton Hill waiting for immigration papers.
“If I have my papers, I can try to find a job,” Rojom said.
The 29-year-old believes he is among the latest arrivals who are “doing nothing wrong” and is consequentially not scared of president-elect Donald Trump's calls for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, or New York City Mayor Eric Adams' desire to deport criminal migrants.
“I'm not scared of Trump,” Rojom said. “If you check my case I'm clean... but if you're coming here, you breaking the law, you're robbing, you're assaulting, nah, its not good bro.”
Despite Rojom's sense of security, immigration advocates are preparing for the worst by organizing workshops to help asylum seekers protect themselves at "Know Your Rights" events.
Jesus Casado, the director of community programming at the New York Immigration Coalition, said he was very skeptical that Trump's plans would be limited to immigrants with criminal convictions.
“I would just be cautious [about] these umbrella statements [that] only criminals should be worried,” Casado said. “I think his approach has been all immigrants are criminals for some reason, that's like a definition he has put forward and that's very dangerous.”
NYIC has been preparing for the incoming Trump administration by connecting migrants to resources by hosting a number of “Key to the City” events where immigrants can receive free legal aid, food and other relevant information.
“The way we're trying to fight back is by providing resources on 'Know Your Rights' information for those who have arrived in recent years, that may not know what they have access to in terms of like legal representation,” Casado said.
The group has also pushed for legislation that protects immigrants at the federal level, including calling on President Joe Biden and Congress to protect and defend immigrants from across the country, regardless of immigration status. The fear is that families with one undocumented parent would be deported, separating children from their parents.
Approximately 5.5 million U.S. citizen children (including 254,00 New York children) live with at least one undocumented family member. Separating family members would not only cause tremendous stress, but lead to economic hardship for many mixed-status families who might lose their breadwinners, the group said.
“Our advocacy work is very, very important to make sure that we're pushing for legislation that is supporting our immigrant communities,” Casado added.
Legal experts, including Jodi Ziesemer, the co-director of the Immigrant Protection Unit at the New York Legal Assistance Group, are also worried.
While Trump's policy has yet to have been fleshed out, Ziesemer said the past is their best reference for what to expect. “It's difficult.... especially [for the] people who did this work and the first Trump administration,” she added.
She was particularly concerned about how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would be deployed throughout the city.
Ziesemer said that ICE “was much more aggressive about both arresting people and enforcement,” during Trump's first term, when an ICE officer fatally shot a man who attempted to intervene during a deportation operation in Gravesend in 2020. Zeisemer said ICE raids of workplaces, homes and businesses were also more frequent.
After meeting Adams earlier this month, incoming border czar Tom Homan said he discussed placing ICE agents at Rikers Island and police precincts.
Legal aid organizations are ramping up their efforts to help migrants become naturalized by helping them fill out their paper work at the "Key to the City" events. "We're ready to fight," Zeisemer said.
Meanwhile, asylum seekers expressed concerns about being deported, though not to the extent that advocates fear
Ben, who lives at the Clinton Hill migrant shelter and asked not to include his last name or country of origin, said he was not scared. In fact, past presidents also deported many asylum seekers, Ben said.
“There is another story, Barack Obama too, deported too many people, more than Trump and Biden [deported people] too,” said Medi, a 29-year-old father and asylum seeker. “It's the same. It's not about, this is like a racist Trump or something like that.”
On a recent cold day outside of the migrant shelter, Medi sounded upbeat, noting the U.S. is the "land of dreams" as you can choose what you want to be.
“We will be good citizens, not a gangster,” he said.
