CHAMPAIGN — María Jiménez remembers when Donald Trump was first elected in 2016.
Jiménez, who uses she/they pronouns, had managed the emotions of being an undocumented child for years by not processing them.
“I remember sitting in the kitchen with my parents and just sobbing, just really letting it out,” Jiménez said.
Jiménez moved from Costa Rica to the United States at age three with their parents and brothers. They thought it would be simple to get citizenship, but it was not. Their visas expired and the entire family of five became undocumented.
Anxiety became a normal part of their lives, Jiménez said. And Donald Trump’s first term took those emotions to a new level.
“It was a time of extreme fear for my family, of having to go straight into planning what it would look like if some of us got deported, or if our parents got deported,” Jiménez said.
Now 27, Jimenez is the associate director of the Immigrant Services of Champaign-Urbana. They are helping their clients process their concerns while planning for the possibilities of Trump’s second term.
What could happen in Illinois?
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to start mass deportations on his first day in office.
Almost 8 percent of K-12 students in Illinois have an undocumented immigrant parent, according to Pew Research Center data from 2022.
But when it comes to deportations, Illinois offers legal protections that other states don’t.
In 2017, former Republican Governor Bruce Rauner signed the TRUST Act, which prevents local police from stopping, arresting or detaining someone based on their immigration status.
And the current Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, signed additional protections into law in 2019. That includes blocking law enforcement agencies from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to turn local police into ICE agents.
“They cannot ask about immigration status,” said Immigrant Services of Champaign-Urbana board member Janice Jayes. “If you call because you’ve been a victim of a crime or something, you’re not in danger.”
Jayes teaches history at Illinois State University and has long been involved in immigration groups in central Illinois. She is a consistent attendee of the C-U Immigration Forum, an umbrella organization that connects immigration groups, churches and advocates in the area.
Advocates: Prepare for the worst, hope for the best
Area schools and non-profits have been hosting workshops ahead of Trump’s second term to help families learn about their rights, and what to do if they are questioned.
“They wanted to help parents prepare for a worst case scenario. So part of that is gathering together information, whether it’s medical records or school or phone numbers of friends or relatives,” Jayes said.
The families were told to put all the information in an envelope in a place their children know about.
In some workshops, families are also signing guardianship papers, notarized documents that appoint a guardian for their child in the event that they get arrested.
“That was very emotional for everybody involved, but that is something that they are preparing for,” Jayes said.
Since most undocumented immigrants have been in the United States for over a decade, their birth country may be safer now than it was when they left.
Reyna Torres Mendivil is the consul and ambassador for the Mexican consulate in Chicago, which helps with legal documents and advice for Mexican immigrants across Illinois and northern Indiana.
“If for any circumstances, you find yourself back in Mexico, we want to make sure that you find the support there as well,” Torres said.
She said her office is coordinating with state governments in Mexico, so those moving back can decide whether to return to their hometowns, can learn how to register for public schools, can open a Mexican bank account and more.
Jiménez: “You’re just as worthy” of dreaming
María Jiménez has grown from a scared teen during Trump’s first election into the associate director of the Immigration Services of Champaign-Urbana.
Unlike their parents who were looking for economic stability, their clients tend to be fleeing something specific.
“We’re talking about high, high, high rates of domestic violence, of human trafficking. We’re talking about fleeing poverty to the point that you’re eating out of rusted pans,” Jiménez explained. “We’re talking about things that make it very clear this is a humanitarian crisis.”
Heading into the next four years, Jiménez is also concerned about their own status.
They’re a Dreamer under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump repealed DACA in his first term, though it was reinstated by a court order. Those around Jimenez are urging them to marry their long-time partner, an American citizen, in case it is threatened again.
Conversations are also ongoing about just exactly what President-elect Trump’s plans are. Jiménez hopes to validate their clients’ fears and prepare for all the possibilities, while taking it one day at a time and not giving into fear.
That’s the main advice they want to give to undocumented kids.
“I think there’s a reason we’re called Dreamers, and not being afraid to dream is a huge piece of it, of knowing you’re just as worthy and just as entitled to going out into the world and creating something for yourself,” Jiménez said.