Kansas immigrants are so 'certain that ICE will come' they fear even leaving home

Afraid to open their doors to strangers. Afraid to drive to work. Afraid even to take out the trash.

Undocumented immigrants living in Kansas increasingly are cautious about putting themselves in situations in which authorities could detain them, according to a University of Kansas research paper published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Social Currents.

Based on in-depth conversations with 67 Latino immigrants dating back to January 2016 and continuing through 2017, the study concludes that directives of President Donald Trump's administration have driven many undocumented residents away from contact with police, schools and other institutions that they previously had trusted.

The Kansas interviews, which began before Trump's unexpected election to the White House, revealed to the researchers that "immigrants' fear keeps them from engaging with institutions and the broader society, with critical consequences for their futures and their children's life chances."

Many of those youngsters are U.S. citizens, the authors noted.

The project started as an effort to assess how undocumented Kansans blend in with communities considered welcoming — especially in rural areas dependent on immigrants filling factory jobs. That the research became an examination of escalating fears, before and after Trump's election, "was pure luck," said co-author Cecilia Menjivar, a KU distinguished professor of sociology.

Menjivar and doctorate candidates Daniel Alvord and Andrea Gomez Cervantes tie their findings to anecdotal accounts of illegal immigrants drifting deeper into society's shadows to avoid arrest. Their identities are shielded by the authors.

▪ Just weeks after the new president took office, "Ezperanza" feared the possibility of being separated from her children. She told the researchers, "what if (authorities) come while I'm taking the trash out and my kids are inside?"

▪ "Luz," a Guatamalan-Mayan woman in a small community, referred to Spanish-language news channels "saying that if someone knocks on the door, we should not open.... If you open the door you are turning yourself in. Oh, how scary!"

▪ An educator from the same town spoke of helping a family enroll a boy in Head Start. But when his mother saw the school bus driver approach her door, she kept the boy inside out of fear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be operating the bus. "She was like, 'I thought it was the migra (ICE) looking for us to take us to the border,'" the educator said.

▪ "Carolina," an illegal resident in a Kansas urban area, said: "I want to leave (for her native country) but you know that if one leaves, well, it is difficult to come back now, because it is not like before."

Other respondents relayed concerns about driving to work or to shop for groceries for fear of being pulled over and arrested.

The Sunflower State requires proof of legal residence to obtain a driver's license, reflecting tougher rules on undocumented aliens under Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. But the study noted that Kansas still accords those residents rights that have been repealed in other states, such as providing in-state tuition to undocumented college students.

Some interview subjects in 2017 spoke of a fear of contacting police even if they spot suspicious activity in their neighborhoods.

Most of the interviews took place in a single Kansas community that the researchers called "Wheatville," a name invented to protect the subjects' confidentiality. Many of those respondents, primarily Guatemalan immigrants, work at a meatpacking plant, the study said.

From there the authors expanded their research to include 21 undocumented Hispanic residents of urban areas.

"The people are very well informed of new policies and the laws being enforced," said researcher Cervantes.

The study cites executive orders issued shortly after Trump's inauguration that broadened ICE's ability to apprehend and deport immigrants without criminal convictions.

As a result, the researchers said, undocumented persons who always have known that deportation was a possibility "now feel certain that ICE will come."

This story was originally published April 19, 2018 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Kansas immigrants are so 'certain that ICE will come' they fear even leaving home."