What mass deportation under Trump would mean for North Carolina’s undocumented immigrants
President-elect Donald Trump wants to use the military and law enforcement to mass-deport every undocumented immigrant in the country — more than 11 million people.
There’s no price tag on that day one priority, he says.
About 315,000 of those people live in North Carolina, and about 110,000 are in the Charlotte metro area that extends into South Carolina, according to data from the nonprofit advocacy group American Immigration Council. More than a third of the state’s immigrant population is undocumented, according to the data.
For many of Charlotte immigration attorney Andrés López’s clients: “To fear is natural.”
Since Nov. 5, that fear comes from people who haven’t been in their home country for decades, he said. Or people who faced death threats before they fled. Or people who might be separated from family.
Still, questions linger about the logistics of a mass deportation effort.
Resources short, backlog long in legal system
Trump can’t change the law overnight, López said. He can change policy, though.
President Joe Biden’s Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, outlined who should be prioritized for deportation in a 2021 memorandum. People at the top of the list are threats to national security, public safety or border security.
“With the Trump administration, that memo can go away,” López said. “It’s just policy. What we know from the first administration is everyone’s a priority. If you have no status, you’re a priority.”
Deportation cases go to immigration court. Charlotte is home to one that takes cases from both the Carolinas. There are more than 146,000 pending cases in the Charlotte court, according to data from Syracuse University. The number grew under Trump’s first administration, and with the COVID-19 pandemic and a surge in people crossing the country’s southern border last year.
There are only six in-person judges in Charlotte, though, according to the Department of Justice. Another 19 work remotely.
“Do the math,” López said. “You just cannot get through that backlog without more judges and more funding, which Congress has neglected to do for decades.”
The only alternative to mass deporting people, he said, would be to strip away basic due process.
After Trump’s recent win, López said he focuses on people most at risk. One such person came to the United States when he was 6 years old, lived in the country for 30 years and has a family here, López said.
Because he’s protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — one that Trump has said he wants to do away with — his future is uncertain.
Another Charlotte attorney who represents undocumented immigrants wondered if it might be harder for the government to dismiss cases, exacerbating the already sizable backlog.
“The last time (Trump’s) administration was in ... he, through the attorney general, really limited the power of the judges to be able to control their docket, limited the power of the Department of Homeland Security to be able to dismiss cases,” said Mercer Cauley, who is also based in Charlotte.
Before any undocumented immigrant reaches court in Charlotte, they will have to be arrested.
No priorities have changed for Immigration and Customs Enforcement yet, said Lindsay Williams, a spokesperson for the federal agency that often arrests undocumented immigrants.
Resources were short for the agency earlier this year. The Washington Post reported ICE considered releasing thousands of immigrants in detention after Congress failed to pass a bill that would have addressed the agency’s $700 million budget deficit.
Effect on the economy
The vast majority of North Carolina’s undocumented immigrants are of working age, according to the American Immigration Council. They make up a sizable chunk of the economy.
3.9% of the state’s work force is undocumented.
24,100 of those living without documentation in North Carolina are entrepreneurs.
Their household income totals $8.4 billion.
They have a spending power of $6.7 billion.
In rural Dunn, Mauricio Chenlo, the executive director of the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, helps undocumented immigrants working in agriculture.
Dunn, about 40 minutes south of Raleigh, is surrounded by small farms that grow tobacco, cotton, sweet potatoes and other crops. The work pays relatively well, drawing people from Central America.
Most of the farmers plan to work in North Carolina for nine months on a visa. But sometimes they stay. The pay is much higher, and sometimes it’s just safer than home, Chenlo said.
“I don’t know what the farmers would do without these people,” he said. “These are workers that come here with a legal visa. They make an average of $17 an hour. In Mexico, they make $10 a day.”
He has noticed something ironic. In Dunn and farm towns nearby, many of the white farmers who voted for Trump would lose their business if they lost those workers.
If someone closes shop: “They’re going to be very upset,” he said.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published December 9, 2024 at 5:00 AM.