In her Highland Park office Friday, Regina Varela’s phone was ringing. It’s been ringing a lot lately, she said. Her clients are scared and anxious, and her immigration law firm has been advising some to lay low.
Among other things, the firm has been distributing informational cards so people know their rights, advising clients to keep away from houses where a previous tenant had a deportation order and offering power of attorney documents so clients can preemptively authorize others to act on their behalf.
“We’re offering it to people that are like, ‘What can I do? I’m afraid I’ll get deported and my kids, they’re 14 and 15, they’re in high school,'” Varela said.
Donald Trump has now twice won the presidency on campaigns depicting immigrants — and particularly those living in the country without authorization — as a national scourge. He promises mass deportations on a historic scale, but experts say he’ll need local help if his ambitious promises are to become anything like a reality.