Preparing families for immigration enforcement as federal crackdown fears grow

By Jacob Wheeler

Sun editor

The Trump administration, which takes power on Jan. 20, has threatened to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States. Some of them have lived in our communities for decades and form the backbone of our workforce. Here in northern Michigan, they are integral to our farms and food production.

To stand with them, the Glen Arbor Sun is publishing part of the handbook, “Preparing Your Family for Immigration Enforcement,” which was compiled by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) and reprinted on pages 6-7 in our Jan. 16 print edition, with MIRC’s permission, both in English y en Español. Learn more at MichiganImmigrant.org, where MIRC offers “Know your rights” and family preparedness videos and Powerpoint slides.

The “Preparing Your Family” handbook that we republished includes rights and responsibilities around: developing an emergency response plan before an immigration arrest; what to do during an arrest; what to do if immigration (agents) come to your house, workplace, or stops you in public; what to do after an arrest; your rights while in detention; an online link to nonprofit immigration legal services providers; a rights card (tarjeta de derechos) that can be handed to an arresting agent, and a delegation of parental authority form—in both English and Spanish.

We took this decision to stand together with our hermanos y hermanas inmigrantes based on the importance of the Latino immigrant community—both documented and undocumented—to our workforce, our agriculture, our schools, churches and other civic institutions in Leelanau County and the Grand Traverse region.

Actions by federal or local law enforcement to arrest and deport our neighbors would tear apart families and hurt our communities.

One adult child of undocumented parents in Leelanau County told us, “knowing that their current situation is going to become more unstable, many families, including my own, are having discussions with their children on what will occur [if a parent is detained]. For example in my case, what needs to be done for the house—insurance and bills, continue sending my brother and sister to school and college.”

Click here to read our October 2024 cover story “Trump’s mass deportation threat worries Leelanau’s tight-knit Latino community.”