Participants in DACA, immigrant driver’s license programs fear reprisal from Trump administration

In a small cottage office tucked away at the end of a parking lot in downtown Guerneville, marriage and family therapist Reina Baez has begun to see the unique emotional and psychological symptoms local undocumented immigrants are experiencing over President-elect Donald Trump’s triumphant victory - anxiety, fear, panic attacks.

The possibility of an unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration - after years of state and federal policies in certain cases easing enforcement - is sending shock waves through the local immigrant community, a population that far outnumbers the estimated 30,000 undocumented immigrants and likely includes tens of thousands of U.S.-born children and extended relatives who are also citizens or legal permanent immigrants.

“I’m seeing kids not wanting to go to school because they’re afraid their parents won’t be there when they come home,” said Baez, 35.

Trump’s promise of tougher border enforcement and stepped-up deportations has many undocumented immigrants worried about the future of government programs that offered them a temporary reprieve from deportation, such as President Obama’s deferred action for childhood arrivals or California’s AB 60, which allows undocumented immigrants to apply for specially marked driver’s licenses.

Baez, a native of Puerto Rico, recently moved to Guerneville and works for the Santa Rosa Community Health Centers as a mental health counselor. At her small office space off Main Street, Baez has set up Libertad Community Center, a “safe space” where Latino immigrants can seek mental health counseling.

“I imagine there’s going to be an increase in anxiety disorders, panic attacks in the coming months and then who knows,” Baez said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s very likely it’s going to get worse and that uncertainty is very bad for mental health and well-being.”

These programs brought many undocumented immigrants out into the open, creating federal and state databases with identifying information such as names, birth dates and addresses. Though deportations hit record levels under the Obama administration, programs such as DACA and AB 60 gave many immigrants a sense of security and normalcy. DACA allowed thousands of Sonoma County residents illegally brought to the United States as children to obtain work permits and remain in the country without fear of deportation.

“It’s like waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said Richard Coshnear, a Santa Rosa immigration attorney who heads an immigration advocacy group called VIDAs.

Coshnear said he has few answers for those who seek reassurance. He has too many questions himself: Will there be a doubling of immigration and customs enforcement agents? Will a Trump administration do away with an immigrant’s right to go before a judge to appeal a deportation order? Will there be a return to workplace immigration raids?

“People ask, ‘Are they just going to get people in jail or will they go after those who have never been to jail,’?” Coshnear said.

For Janet, a DACA participant who asked that only her first name be used, life under President-elect Trump means a loss of opportunity and a return to being fearful of being deported to a country she has no memory of. That’s a hard pill to swallow for someone who two years ago graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in molecular cell and developmental biology.

“I realize they’d be able to find me, regardless,” said Janet, 24. “It is a little scary to know that they do have my address, they have my fingerprints, they know everything - I hope they don’t use it against us.”

Janet, who was brought to the United States by her parents when she was 3 months old, has never left the country. She grew up in Occidental and her family moved to Santa Rosa when she was a freshman in high school.

She attended Piner High School and fell in love with the field of health care while in Piner’s biotech program. She is works as a case manager for a private health care organization that provides mental health services for Alameda County and has plans to continue her education and become a nurse.

Landing DACA was a huge “sigh of relief,” she said.

“Our entire lives we’re in hiding,” Janet said. “There’s this constant fear of what if you get pulled over by a police officer ... the first thing I did when I got my driver’s license, was got out and buy a car and get insurance, all these things that people typically take for granted were so exciting for me.”

Trump has vowed to do away with DACA.

Stephen Scribner, another Santa Rosa immigration attorney, said his DACA clients are “really scared.” But he said in general he’s getting as many anxiety-ridden questions from his existing clients as those who are coming to him for the first time.

Among them are immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens and are seeking a waiver in order to get a Green Card despite having illegally entered the country.

“They’re all worried that the standards may change,” he said. “Ultimately these applications are decided by individuals working for the administration.”

Alejandra, a 48-year-old farmworker who lives in Santa Rosa and came to the United States in 1992, said she has three grown American-born children. Alejandra, who also asked that only her first name be used, said she refrained from obtaining a marked driver’s license under AB 60, because she feared putting herself in a vulnerable position.

“It’s like being on a target list for the racists,” she said.

But she said she’s resigned herself to the possibility of being sent back to her home state of Oaxaca, Mexico, where she owns a home.

“I’m not worried. If they come get me, I’ve had my kids and have done what I’ve set out to do,” she said. “I have faith in God, and each step I take I surrender myself to his will.”

But the prayers of young immigrants like Janet are different.

“I really hope and I’m praying that our information is kept safe and that people in our community and people in general around us do their best to support us,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.