Some of the migrants in sanctuary city New York are already ‘terrified’ of being deported by Donald Trump – but others are convinced they’ll be free from persecution because they aren’t criminals.
At the The Roosevelt Hotel shelter, where many have been living for over a year, some say they feel ‘traumatized’ by Trump’s repeated threats.
One mother was seen sobbing in the lobby after the Republican’s win was announced early Wednesday.
Another said he is already planning to flee the US and go to Costa Rica, telling Daily Mail: ‘I am a scared man.’
Many asylum seeker families have been staying at the shelter at The Roosevelt Hotel 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 confident they will be allowed to stay because they haven’t committed crimes.
They support Trump’s plan to get rid of violent criminals, and are not worried about being swept up in his plans to carry out sweeping deportations.
‘[Trump] says he’s going to deport the illegal migrants which is not a bad thing. We came here to work and we’re not all the same…. We’re not undocumented,’ Venezuelan Fernando Peralta said as he sold drinks from a cooler outside the shelter.
He is registered as an asylum seeker, which gives him hope he will be allowed to remain in the US.
‘We’re gonna be fine cause the government should go after the bad guys,’ he added.
Peralta claimed that he himself has fallen victim to criminal migrants who have been operating near the shelter and the Times Square area.
‘I am scared man. I’m already planning on traveling to Costa Rica,’ Venezuelan asylum seeker Luis told DailyMail.com on Thursday following Trump’s win
‘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 exasperated Peralta said.
‘Look how we’re working here and they’re out there stealing.’
Another, who gave her name as Nellie, said she did not consider Trump 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’s that if someone comes here to do harm and commit crimes, then it is the president’s duty to clean things up,’ she said, in a show of support for Trump’s plans.
Trump’s election appears to already have had an effect on a migrant caravan that is currently headed to the US.
A caravan traveling through Mexico towards the US is seen on November 7
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 following former Trump’s win last week.
Trump clinched the presidential election after a campaign that promised large-scale deportations of undocumented migrants and a return to fast-tracked deportations to Mexico, in addition to halting entries across the US border with Mexico.
An official from Mexico’s National Migration Institute said a caravan traveling to the US had dwindled to less than 1,600 people from 3,000 when it set out from the southern city of Tapachula on Tuesday.
Just over 100 people asked for help from authorities to return to the Mexican city, the official said.
It was unclear where the rest of the migrants who left the caravan were headed.
After hearing that Trump had won, many of those in the caravan felt less hopeful about their chance at a new life in the U.S.
‘I had hoped (Kamala Harris) would win, but that didn’t happen,’ said Valerie Andrade, a Venezuelan migrant travelling from Chiapas to Oaxaca in southern Mexico.
Andrade, along with her husband, and like over seven million other Venezuelans, left her crisis-ridden country seeking better prospects.
Migrants told DailyMail.com that many of the children living at 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 policies also include ending birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants.
During his previous administration, between 2017 and 2021 Trump put in place policies that left hundreds of thousands of migrants stranded in camps along the Mexican border, reshaping U.S. immigration politics.
A spokesperson for Chiapas state security said that while the migrant caravan continues north, some families are choosing to turn back to Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border.
But for many the journey northward persists.
Venezuelan migrant Jeilimar, who requested that her last name be withheld for her safety, remains hopeful her appointment to seek asylum via the U.S. Customs and Border Protection app, CBP One, will come through before Trump assumes office in January.
‘With God’s favor, I’ll get that appointment,’ she said, as she travelled with her six-year-old daughter, intent on reaching the U.S.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk