Christina Lee, Head Photography Editor

Immigrant activists and community members displayed colorful banners reading, “We are the resistance” and “Porque sólo el pueblo salva al pueblo” — “Because only the people will save the people” — on the steps of City Hall last week.

The messages of unity came in the wake of Donald Trump’s reelection and in response to his restrictive immigration agenda. At last Monday’s rally, organized by immigrant advocacy group Unidad Latina en Acción, around 30 attendees voiced worries about Trump’s plans for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

ULA organizers have been contingently planning for a second Trump administration for months. Since the Nov. 5 election, they have trained undocumented immigrants on their rights and created emergency group chats for community members based on location. 

“We’re getting ready for this new administration,” John Jairo Lugo, ULA’s community organizing director, said at the rally. “We are organizing our community. We can create the mechanisms to protect ourselves.”

Protesters called for the continuation of New Haven’s status as a sanctuary city —  a municipality that discourages local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Mayor Justin Elicker doubled down on the city’s promise to be a “place of inclusion and belonging for all” in a statement the morning following the election.

Three undocumented women tearfully shared their fears of being separated from their children at the rally.

“We are very sad that Trump wants to deport us,” Maria, who asked to be identified by her first name due to fear of deportation, said at the rally. “We came here, we work really hard, we are here to provide for our families and it is not fair that they want to deport us.”

Jim Pandaru, a speaker representing Veterans for Peace, said that, given the looming threat to immigrant communities, New Haveners cannot afford to become passive. “We have to get together,” Pandaru added.

Paula Naranjo, an undergraduate student at Southern Connecticut State University, told the crowd that she witnessed a sense of renewed urgency to protect undocumented students post-election. Naranjo, who leads an organization aimed at supporting undocumented students, said the club is working to raise awareness about how Trump’s second administration will impact young immigrants like herself.

Brian Timko, a volunteer coordinator for ULA for over a decade, anticipates that the next four years will reinvigorate community organizing. He urged more volunteers to join their cause, allowing ULA to gain political momentum and push for legislative protections for Connecticut’s immigrant communities.

The countdown to Jan. 20: activists prepare for Trump’s reinauguration

Lugo and other ULA organizers hit the ground running after Nov. 5, hosting two meetings for immigrant community members about Trump’s planned restrictive immigration policies.

At a Nov. 11 meeting, Lugo and ULA community organizer Jenny Cornejo distributed “know your rights” leaflets to dozens of attendees. Emblazoned with the bolded words, “Be careful! If you open the door, you lose!” in Spanish, the leaflets instruct community members to bar police or federal immigration authorities from their houses unless they have an arrest warrant.

Lugo pointed to the 2007 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, where ICE agents were let into dozens of Fair Haven homes and arrested 32 alleged undocumented immigrants. He acknowledged that similar raids were not carried out in the city during Trump’s first administration, largely because of New Haven’s sanctuary policies.

Organizers also announced localized WhatsApp group chats to mobilize activists on the scene of an ICE raid. Jotting down community members’ phone numbers and New Haven home wards, Lugo instructed attendees to send a message in their group chat if federal immigration authorities knocked on their door, dispatching a ULA emergency response team to the community member’s home.

ULA’s main tactic will be photographing and videotaping federal immigration authorities to post on social media, according to Lugo. He said their approach proved successful when ICE agents arrived unannounced at local courts to detain undocumented immigrants during Trump’s first administration.

“They rely on nobody recognizing them, nobody recognizing their faces, nobody knowing their movements,” Lugo said in Spanish.

Lugo also acknowledged the heightened discrimination immigrant community members may face during the next four years because of the president-elect’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.

He emphasized the importance of solidarity with fellow immigrants, leading attendees through an exercise where they spoke with a person they didn’t know for a minute and then introduced them to the rest of the group.

“The thing that will save us during these next four years is unity,” Lugo said in Spanish.

Trump’s reinauguration is slated for Jan. 20.