Mohammed al-Menshawi, Washington
US President Donald Trump has vowed to arrest thousands of illegal immigrants in 10 cities and has faced strong opposition from the authorities of some of these cities and many US civil society organizations.
While US media quoted sources in the Immigration Department as saying there had been no widespread arrest of migrants on the ground, President Trump told reporters at the White House park on Monday that the operation "was very successful ... you just do not know what happened "He said.
According to the Pew Research Center, there are about 11 million irregular migrants in the United States, mostly from Mexico and Central America.
Although there are no precise figures on the number of irregular migrants from the Arab world, Arab communities have seen the presence of thousands of immigrants who arrive in legitimate ways to the United States and whose visas expire without leaving and become irregular migrants.
Trump and immigrants
Al-Jazeera Net spoke to an Egyptian immigrant seeking asylum in the United States for political reasons, saying: "Washington arrived years ago and applied for asylum, but Trump's policies have delayed all immigration procedures ... Although I now have a temporary legal status pending my request, I know her way to me as Trump's policies become more acute, especially those where thousands of irregular migrants will be arrested. "
| Demonstrators carrying the slogan of an association sponsoring the immigrants of El Salvador in Washington (Al Jazeera) |
Because of Trump's policies, "a number of Arab immigrants have chosen to leave and take refuge in the Canadian border, as the procedures are easier and more humane, especially if you have a family and children," says another immigrant to Al Jazeera Net.
Several cities witnessed large demonstrations last weekend, coinciding with the start of the campaign to arrest irregular migrants.
Hundreds protested in front of the White House in protest of Trump's policies, and many American civil society groups are trying to reassure immigrants and introduce them to their legal rights, even those whose presence is illegal in the United States.
The organizations concerned with the protection of migrants' rights provide various services, the most important of which is to allow any irregular migrant to obtain free legal advice to know his or her rights in case of arrest.
Anxiety Infection
New York City is one of the 10 target cities of the recent Trump initiative.
"The immigration agencies tried to arrest immigrants in New York, but they failed," New York City Mayor Di Palacio told local newspapers.
The immigration campaign promoted by President Trump has focused on thousands of families who have reached a final court decision to leave US territory. But the Arab immigrants left nothing to chance and took precautionary measures.
"Here in the Brooklyn area of New York there are hundreds, perhaps several thousand irregular migrants of Arab origin, but because of the broad coverage of the Trump campaign, they have not gone to work in the past few days," said an irregular Egyptian immigrant living in New York for more than 20 years. For fear of being subjected to any accountability. "
| Protesters against Trump's immigration policies before the White House |
New York City, its suburbs and parts of neighboring New Jersey are home to tens of thousands of Arab immigrants, most of whom have legal status, and thousands of them have US citizenship.
The Atlantic Avenue in the heart of Brooklyn is packed with thousands of immigrants from Yemen.
"We are used to being in charge, and the situation will not be any worse than what we suffered after the September 11 attacks," Munir, who owns a Yemeni grocery, told Al Jazeera.net.
Bad conditions
Mounir arrived in the United States in the mid-1980s with a tourist visa and was able to obtain US citizenship in the early 1990s, yet immigration authorities fear, he told Al Jazeera Net.
Al-Muhajir al-Masri told Al-Jazeera Net that "the areas that are usually crowded with regular and irregular Arab migrants on the weekend have been adversely affected by the arrests."
"There were public parks and Arab cafes that were almost empty last weekend," he said.
"The situation of Arab and Muslim immigrants is worse than that of their Latino counterparts who have access to churches that provide protection and shelter. Mosques can not welcome irregular migrants and protect them for fear of being accused of collusion against law enforcement."
"America has arrived legally for many years, I work and pay taxes, I have a driver's license and a national ID card, but I still consider the law illegal," said the Egyptian immigrant, who declined to be named. The situation of thousands of immigrants like me. "