On Thursday morning, October 31, community leaders from San Mateo County joined the voice of California Senator Josh Becker to reaffirm their support for the immigrant community that today, more than ever, is attacked and lives in fear of being deported if Donald Trump comes to power.
Gathered in front of the organization's mural Casa Circulo Cultural In North Fair Oaks, Becker spoke of the magnitude of the threats made by the Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States regarding deportation, which he has assured will be massive once he reaches the Oval Office.
"I don't know what will happen next Tuesday, I don't know," Becker said. "I recognize that I don't have all the answers, but I also recognize that words matter and that the words 'mass deportation' are words that instill fear, they instill terror."
The event commemorated the mass deportation of Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigrants during the 1930s under the "Mexican Repatriation Program," which led to the forced repatriation of nearly two million people across the country, including nearly 400,000 in California.
Currently, people, especially undocumented immigrants, live in uncertainty and fear of losing the opportunity to find a better quality of life for their families, so a mass deportation is not something that can be taken lightly by former President Trump.
"We know what has happened before in this country, we know what could happen and we are here to stand up and share our voices and say: let's make sure it doesn't happen again," Becker stressed.
Verónica Escamez, founder and director of Casa CÃrculo Cultural, called on everyone to cast their vote and raise their voices in these crucial moments.
"Now is the time to be united to fight mass deportation. Our voice is our vote. If you cannot vote for some reason, your children, relatives or friends can do so. Please let them know. We must be aware that if we do not vote, we cannot complain about what happens to us. I invite you all to go out and vote and thus make your voice heard," she said.
For Alicia Aguirre, a professor at Cañada College, remembering and reminiscing is the key, because what happened in the 1930s can happen again.
"We have to remember that at that time, people didn't have the rights that we have today, they didn't know how to protect themselves. Now we live in a community that protects our immigrants, as a professor at Cañada College that's what I do every day, I talk to them (the students) about their rights and how they can protect themselves, in addition to not being in places where they are vulnerable to all of this," she explained to Peninsula 360 Press.
Aguirre recalled that after these events, there was a brazier movement, since after the Second World War there was a lack of essential workers in the field, and they were called back.
"First, they took them out and then they brought them back in. We have to understand our history, because that way we can empower ourselves and know that we have done very important things in this country, that we have contributed as immigrants," he stressed.
He also called for people to vote against those who might come to power.
"The most important thing, the thing that can make all the changes, is voting; voting so that the risks we face from a candidate do not reach our homes. We have to vote so that we have more opportunities for our children, so that they have opportunities for health and educational benefits. There are so many platforms to vote and we make that difference, we cannot sit back and say nothing happens. If we do not vote, let us help and support the people who can vote," she said.
For her part, Belinda Hernández Arriaga, founder and executive director of the organization ALAS, told Peninsula 360 Press that, when remembering the mass deportations in the 1930s, "we cannot let this happen again. What I am seeing, hearing and what we are experiencing with this election again with Trump, is that I never imagined that I would have to live through this anger, this fear, this trauma again."
"It's happening again and we're hearing even worse things. With what he's saying about Latinos, about migrants, and the fear he's instilling, right now it's very important to vote, to do everything we can in these days, but it's also very important to know that we're going to be united no matter what happens, we're going to be fighting this here, we can't defeat each other and let fear take control," she stressed.
According to Hernández Arriaga, what Trump said has had repercussions on people's mental health, as his hateful, racist and xenophobic speeches have left their mark, even on the youngest members of the household, and this could be repeated and increased.
"It makes me so sad, because during the time he was in the office and I as a psychologist created the terminology Trump-Trauma, because what I was hearing from the community of children, young people and adults, was a trauma that was occurring because of his speech or his politicians, because of his words, and it is very important to know that not only are these words entering our body, but our emotions and our psychology."
In this regard, Belinda wrote the book "Love and Monsters in the Life of Sofia," which is about a girl who gets sick because she was afraid to go to school and do her daily chores because she thought that when she returned home her parents would no longer be there or that they would be deported.
"It's an emotional trauma that no one is looking at what's happening to our children. They listen to the news and what they're saying about our immigrant families, thinking it doesn't affect them, but we're not talking about the impact and the damage that's happening and that we need to be talking to them," she added.
Belinda also recalled how, during the Trump administration, children and young people were locked in "cages," where they suffered, causing irreversible impacts on their minds. However, she said, "what happened here in the United States was caused by us and, if he wins again, that will be our fault, for letting someone like that be president of the United States in 2024."
Finally, I call for action and voting, as well as for preparing for what may happen.
"We have to take action and we can prepare ourselves, because whatever is going to happen, we are going to have to fight and that takes energy, time, unity and preparation. We have to start preparing ourselves. I am preparing my heart for what is coming, if Harris wins we will be in good hands, but we also have to prepare ourselves for the fight that is coming if Trump wins, because the immigrant community cannot let ourselves go, we have to be united and we have to prepare well," he concluded.
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