It’s estimated that there are more than 13 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has promised that on Jan. 20, 2025 – his first day in office - he’ll “launch the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America.”
Emmie Gardner, the executive director of Holy Cross Ministries, said the organization’s focus has pivoted to the local immigrant community.
“I think we can all agree with the president, and our governor who's now supporting the president-elect, yes, let's arrest criminals,” Gardner said. “I mean, we all want a safe community. We all want a safe environment. The reality and the facts are that over 90% of that 13 million folks in the U.S. who don't have status currently, over 90% of them have no criminal record.”
Gardner said the numbers are based on reports from the nonprofit American Immigration Council which tracks data from state and federal agencies, including annual Census surveys, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and others. The advocacy group reports include information on the impact immigrants have on population, the economy and the criminal justice system.
And while the majority may not have been accused or convicted of serious crimes, being undocumented is a violation of federal law. It’s something Gardner hopes can be fixed as immigration policies change.
“I guess I come from that frame of reference, of assuming good intent and understanding that they're just trying to make a better life for their families, or that they're fleeing something that was just so egregious and scary that that they thought the United States is a land of opportunity,” she said. “It's the chance to make a better life and to hopefully find a way and a path to legal status, if they could, right? Folks would much rather do that than sort of live in limbo and not know what's happening or kind of live in that fear.”
Two information sessions are scheduled this month to help immigrants. The first is a “Know Your Rights” session with the Wasatch Immigration Project on Monday, Dec. 16, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Christian Center of Park City.
Additionally, the Utah Immigration Advocacy Coalition is hosting a legal clinic on Saturday, Dec. 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Sorenson Unity Center [1383 S. 900 W.] in Salt Lake City.
“People have made this home, and we have to figure just a very humanitarian, compassionate way, not vilifying people, not criminalizing people, keeping families together and doing what we can to help folks find a pathway so that they can stay here and continue to call this place home,” she said.
Gardner said the estimated 300,000 immigrants in Utah make up about 9% of the state’s population; people, she said, who pay $2.5 billion in taxes and provide essential services. She said deporting them would gut the Utah economy.
“So much of the election was around people voting for the economy,” she said. “That immigrant spending power is over $8.3 billion. When that goes away, what does that mean?”
Also concerning, she said, is HR 9495 which was passed by the U.S. House in November. The “Stop Terror Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act” would allow the Secretary of the Treasury to shut down tax-exempt organizations based on a unilateral accusation of supporting terrorist organizations.
Opponents of the bill said it could allow President-elect Trump – or any president – to target and punish perceived political opponents, nonprofits and other entities he disagrees with and can’t prove they don’t support terrorist organizations.
