HOUSTON — Houston-area groups are bracing for a second Donald Trump administration and the potential impact of his pledged mass deportation efforts.
In a Truth Social post, President-Elect Trump signaled his intent to use military assets for these efforts.
"True!!!" Trump wrote in response to a conservative activist’s post claiming his administration was prepared to declare a national emergency to implement a mass deportation program.
While Trump previously declared national emergencies during his first term, legal experts say such efforts may face significant legal challenges, particularly in the case of mass deportations.
"In 2017, for example, Trump declared a national emergency to trigger presidential authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit the entry of immigrants into the United States," said David Froomkin, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center. "There’s no similar provision empowering the executive to deport immigrants already in the U.S., so the power Trump is seeking to exercise here is far less likely to fall within the scope of emergency authority granted to the executive."
Locally, immigrant advocacy groups recall Trump’s first term as a time of instability for the communities they support.
"The first term under Trump was a very trying time," said Cesar Espinoza, executive director of FIEL, a Houston-based immigrant advocacy group. "It was a moment of constant change."
Espinoza said Houston’s immigrant population—more than 500,000 individuals lacking permanent legal status, according to the Migration Policy Institute—may face similar challenges in a second Trump administration.
"It opens a Pandora’s box for a series of civil liberties violations," Espinoza added.
Other organizations also anticipate significant challenges ahead.
"We are really expecting that we will have to be laser-focused," said Chiqui Sanchez Kennedy, executive director of the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project, a nonprofit providing immigration legal services.
Kennedy noted that one of the group’s key strategies during Trump’s first term—quickly and accurately informing the immigrant community about changing policies—will likely be needed again.
"I think a lot of information gets lost, and the details get lost," Kennedy said. "And the fear in the community can take over."