The First 100 Days: Bracing for Impact

_{Originally published in The Latino Newsletter–reprinted with permission.}

Opinion for The Latino Newsletter

Well before November’s election results came in, LatinoJustice PRLDEF sketched out various scenarios for what a new administration might bring, just as many of our colleagues in the nonprofit and civil rights world did. And now, on the cusp of a new reality, we’re bracing for impact.

We know that the incoming administration has extensive plans to roll back progress and do harm to Latinos and millions of other people in this country, not just because they’ve announced it, but because we saw what they did last time they were in power.

Much of the scare-mongering threats are not just directed at immigrants, people of color and LGBTQ+ people, but at the institutions and people who resisted in the first go-around.

Corporate leaders, Big Tech, finance and media companies are all signaling that they will go along to get along, kissing the ring at Mar-a-Lago. And after much bluster, Congress seems to be blithely endorsing questionable candidates to head federal agencies and already voting in favor of anti-immigrant legislation like the Laken Riley bill.

We’re supposed to look at the mounting pressure to conform and let our fear and exhaustion lead us to “obey in advance.” But we’re not going to throw in the towel before the bell is rung to start the first round.

We’ve learned a great deal since 2017, and even with a move to more hostile courts and politics since then, we are prepared to support immigrants, and fight for Latinos access to jobs, education and housing, in the courthouse, in the legislatures and in our communities.

One of our biggest priorities is to limit local and state law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities. We just won a class action suit we filed in 2017 on behalf of 650 people who were illegally detained and turned over to ICE, and expect to have to take similar action in this term. And we’re supporting bills like the NY4All Act and Dignity not Detention Act in New York to help grind down the gears of the detention machine.

We’re prepared to litigate and advocate against attempts to deny public benefits for immigrants, such as an expected push to deny public housing to mixed status households, and to support state and municipal laws that expand benefits for immigrants, including those undocumented, who are shut out of federal benefits. For example, we’re leading the campaign on the NY CARES Act, which would extend critical temporary assistance and medical help to undocumented victims of human trafficking, domestic violence and torture.

We expect to also have our hands full in Florida and Texas, where we have offices and staff.

The list of proposed legislation that harms immigrants and Latinos in those states is long, including pending legislation in Texas to detain and fingerprint schoolkids suspected of being undocumented.

Hand in hand with community organizations in the places where we work, we will share our legal expertise through trainings and legal clinics to inform people about their rights at home, in the streets, at work and in schools. And we’ll help undocumented parents prepare for the worst, so their U.S.-born children can be taken care of here if they are deported.

We will also continue our efforts to fight the anti-DEI backlash in schools and in workplaces that imperils equitable access to education and employment. After the 2023 anti-affirmative action Supreme Court decision, we’ve seen attacks on scholarships to help Latinos, on race-neutral admissions criteria for K-12 schools, and on corporate DEI programs. Since last year we’ve been informing and supporting Latino-serving nonprofits concerned about possible attacks and loss of funding, and we will continue that work.

We’re not under any illusion that we can solve these issues quickly or completely. After all, we’ve been at this for more than 50 years. But we know that moments like this are why we’ve kept at it so long. And we will prevail. There is no other option.