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Thursday, November 12, 2026Nov 12

Immigrants fearing deportation under Trump change routines

Mr. Lane, who did not give his first name, sits at the dining room table as his two children watch a movie in their home Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017, in San Diego. The Lane family has been on edge since President Donald Trump took office. The mother, a Mexican who is in the country illegally, now carries her birth and marriage certificates and other documents wherever she goes. Around the country, Trump's efforts to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S. have spread fear and anxiety and led many people to brace for arrest and to change up their daily routines in hopes of not getting caught. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Mr. Lane, who did not give his first name, sits at the dining room table as his two children watch a movie in their home Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017, in San Diego. The Lane family has been on edge since President Donald Trump took office. The mother, a Mexican who is in the country illegally, now carries her birth and marriage certificates and other documents wherever she goes. Around the country, Trump's efforts to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S. have spread fear and anxiety and led many people to brace for arrest and to change up their daily routines in hopes of not getting caught. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Mr. Lane, who did not give his first name, sits at the dining room table as his two children watch a movie in their home Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017, in San Diego. The Lane family has been on edge since President Donald Trump took office. The mother, a Mexican who is in the country illegally, now carries her birth and marriage certificates and other documents wherever she goes. Around the country, Trump's efforts to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S. have spread fear and anxiety and led many people to brace for arrest and to change up their daily routines in hopes of not getting caught. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

In Orange County, California, dozens of immigrant parents have signed legal documents authorizing friends and relatives to pick up their children from school and access their bank accounts to pay their bills in the event they are arrested by immigration agents.

In Philadelphia, immigrants are carrying around wallet-size “Know Your Rights” guides in Spanish and English that explain what to do if they’re rounded up.

And in New York, 23-year-old Zuleima Dominguez and other members of her Mexican family are careful about answering the door and start making worried phone calls when someone doesn’t come home on time.

Around the country, President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S. have spread fear and anxiety and led many people to brace for arrest and to change up their daily routines in hopes of not getting caught.

In El Paso, Texas, Carmen Ramos and her friends have developed a network to keep each other updated via text messages on where immigration checkpoints have been set up.