Some migrants in the holding city of New York are already ‘terrified’ of being deported by Donald Trump – but others are confident they will be free from prosecution because they are not criminals.
At The Roosevelt Hotel shelter, where many have lived for more than a year, some say they feel “traumatized” by Trump’s repeated threats.
One mother was seen sobbing in the lobby after the Republican victory was announced early Wednesday.
Another said he is already planning to flee the US for Costa Rica, telling Daily Mail: ‘I’m a scared man.’
Many asylum seeker families have been staying at The Roosevelt Hotel reception center in Manhattan for over a year
Asylum seeker Fernando Peralta, 34, sells drinks from a cooler outside the Roosevelt Hotel
“I don’t want them to grab me and hold me in some immigration jail for who knows how long.”
Others, however, are convinced that they can stay because they have not committed any crimes.
They support Trump’s plan to get rid of violent criminals, and are not concerned about being swept up in his plans to carry out large-scale deportations.
‘[Trump] says he’s going to deport the illegal immigrants, which isn’t a bad thing. We came here to work and we are not all the same. We have no papers,” said Venezuelan Fernando Peralta as he sold drinks from a cooler outside the shelter.
He is registered as an asylum seeker, which gives him hope that he will be allowed to stay in the US.
“We will be fine because the government has to go after the bad guys,” he added.
Peralta claimed that he himself was a victim of criminal migrants operating near the shelter and around Times Square.
‘I’m scared dude. I am already planning to travel to Costa Rica,” Venezuelan asylum seeker Luis told DailyMail.com on Thursday after Trump’s victory
‘Why would you come here and steal? One of them tried to rob me the other day and I punched him in the face,” an annoyed Peralta said.
“Look how we’re working here and they’re stealing.”
Another, who gave her name as Nellie, said she did not take Trump into account when making her migration plans.
She arrived in the country last week – and agreed with Peralta that not all migrants are “the same.”
‘It’s not about hate or racism. It is that if someone comes here to cause harm and commit crimes, it is the president’s duty to clean up the mess,” she said, in a show of support for Trump’s plans.
Trump’s election appears to have already had an effect on a migrant caravan currently on its way to the US.
On November 7, a caravan is seen traveling through Mexico towards the US
Reuters reported that the caravan of thousands of migrants traveling through Mexico had shrunk to about half its original size, as many migrants grapple with their prospects after former Trump’s victory last week.
Trump won the presidential election after a campaign that promised widespread deportations of undocumented migrants and a return to expedited deportations to Mexico, in addition to halting access across the U.S. border with Mexico.
More than eight million migrants crossed the border
An official from Mexico’s National Migration Institute said the caravan had dwindled to fewer than 1,600 people from 3,000 when it left the southern city of Tapachula on Tuesday.
Just over 100 people asked authorities for help to return to the Mexican city, the official said.
It was unclear where the rest of the migrants who left the caravan were going.
After hearing that Trump had won, many people in the caravan were less hopeful about their chances for a new life in the US
“I was hoping Kamala Harris would win, but that didn’t happen,” said Valerie Andrade, a Venezuelan migrant traveling from Chiapas to Oaxaca in southern Mexico.
Andrade, together with her husband, and like more than seven million other Venezuelans, left her crisis-ridden country in search of better prospects.
Migrants told DailyMail.com that many of the children living in the shelter have been traumatized by Trump’s promises of mass deportations
Migrants walk in a caravan along a highway on their way to the U.S. border, in Saltillito, Mexico, on November 7
Trump’s proposed immigration policy also includes ending birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants.
During his previous administration, between 2017 and 2021, Trump implemented policies that left hundreds of thousands of migrants stranded in camps along the Mexican border, reshaping U.S. immigration policy.
A Chiapas state security spokesperson said that as the migrant caravan continues north, some families are choosing to return to Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala.
But for many, the journey north continues.
Venezuelan migrant Jeilimar, who requested that her last name be withheld for her safety, remains hopeful that her nomination to seek asylum through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection app, CBP One, will come through before Trump takes office in January.
“By God’s grace, I will get that appointment,” she said as she traveled with her six-year-old daughter, aiming to reach the U.S.