Trump made a lot of promises on the campaign trail leading up to his victory — many of them involving quashing immigration.
They include beefing-up border security, reinstating his “Remain-in-Mexico” policy, ending birth-right citizenship for people born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents and trying to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program once and for all.
Trump has also vowed to carry out the largest mass deportation of unauthorized migrants in U.S. history.
And while the president-elect’s plan has some holes in it, the issue is top of mind for many Latinos in Oklahoma still reeling from the whiplash of House Bill 4156, the law threatening jail time for anyone living in the state without legal immigration status — and increased penalties for people who don’t leave the state after doing time.
HB 4156 is stopped in federal court for now, but that could change as an appeal by State Attorney General Gentner Drummond makes its way through the 10th circuit federal appellate court in Colorado.
Some have dismissed Trump’s promise to involve the military and local police in deporting masses of migrants as too costly, legally unfeasible and contingent on the support of local police, which isn’t a guarantee. Still, concern simmers within Oklahoma’s Latino community about how Trump’s rhetoric empowers people who could do more immediate harm.
Oklahoma immigration policy dovetails with Trump's campaign promises
Arturo Alonso-Sandoval is the Representative for southwest Oklahoma City’s House District 89, the district with the densest Latino population in the state.
As a Democrat, Alonso-Sandoval said Trump’s victory is disheartening. He worries about the hate Trump and his staunchest supporters have expressed toward Latinos and other immigrant communities.
Trump, his Vice Presidential running mate J.D. Vance and conservative political pundits have accused immigrants of being criminals and rapists, of eating dogs and cats and wanting to replace the white majority status quo that still exists across the country.
“One of the things I fear is that a lot of people will feel more emboldened to continue to put out that negative and hateful rhetoric that demonizes Hispanics and demonizes immigrants,” Alonso-Sandoval said during a phone interview on Nov. 6, the day after the presidential election.
That rhetoric has already embedded itself in Oklahoma’s legislative psyche. HB 4156 was a sort of ultimate proposal, drafted by Drummond to protect Oklahomans from drug and trafficking crimes he claims are tied to illegal immigration at the country’s southern border. But it wasn’t the first bill proposed in Oklahoma attacking immigrants this year.
During the most recent regular legislative session, Republican lawmakers proposed a slate of anti-immigrant — and specifically anti-Latino — bills. Most died in committee once the aforementioned mother-of-all-bills came into play, but the language they contained aligned with the hostile energy many Oklahoma Latinos are sensing from the upcoming presidential administration.
Under one of the bills, Latinos who were arrested and identified to have gang affiliations would be designated as terrorists. Another would have cut state money going to government and nonprofit organizations helping unauthorized immigrants. A third would have restricted the enrollment of non-citizens into public and charter schools.
Oklahomans overwhelmingly voted for Trump on election night. They also voted to change the language of the State Constitution to include more restrictive language around voting eligibility.
State Question 834 changes the state constitution to read that “only” U.S. citizens can vote in Oklahoma elections rather than “all” of them. It has always been the case that only U.S. Citizens can vote in state and federal elections.
The evening after the election, Alonso-Sandoval sat on a small panel with fellow Oklahoma City Democrat Senator Michael Brooks, who chairs the Oklahoma Latino Legislative Caucus, and Oklahoma City immigration attorney Natalia Riveros-Jacobsen. The panel was hosted and streamed in Spanish live on Facebook by Tango PR, a Latino-owned Public Relations firm based in south Oklahoma City.
Shortly after Trump’s declared victory, members of Latino community groups on Facebook and WhatsApp started asking about the likelihood of mass deportations.
“Trump promised mass deportations,” one viewer asked during the Nov. 6 livestream. “How much credibility should we place on that?”
Riveros-Jacobsen pointed to the infeasibility of the claim and said its value is greater as rhetoric, rather than a practical solution to illegal immigration.
“How many billions — not millions — billions of dollars would [Trump’s Administration] have to spend to realistically arrest all 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the country?” she said. “It’s one thing for [Trump] to say it, and then there is reality, which is that he has immigrant family and immigrant employees. He knows the impact it’ll have on families if he follows through.”
Some Oklahoma Latinos hope for a better economy under new administration
Fred Mendoza is the founder and chairman of the Oklahoma Hispanic Institute, a businessman and a registered Republican. At the GOP Election Night watch party, shortly after Trump won Oklahoma, he didn’t defend Trump or his supporters’ rhetoric.
“Trump has said a lot of things that didn’t need to be said,” Mendoza said. “Both sides have done that. So, no one is going to paint Donald Trump as the perfect candidate who always says the right thing.”
What’s important, Mendoza said, is that Latinos coalesce going forward, regardless of party, and work to prevent what could come from laws like HB 4156.
He said much of Oklahoma’s conservative Latino leadership is to blame.
“A lot of this is our fault because the legislative leaders don’t know us,” Mendoza said. “We need to engage them so that the next time this foolishness comes up we can pick up the phone and say, ‘Mr. Committee Chairman, let's talk. This is crazy.”
Mendoza said the passage of House Bill 4156 was predictable and preventable, as are future legislative attacks on the Latino community.
Mendoza said the economic gains he foresees for the community during a Trump presidency outweigh the charged rhetoric. Election polls of Latinos before and after the election show the demographic, while not a monolith, tends to agree.
Pre-election polls conducted by UnidosUS, the largest Latino-focused civic advocacy group in the country, show Latinos were heading to the polls across the country with the economy in mind. The top three issues include jobs, the economy and rising inflation and cost of living.
Immigration was the fifth most important issue to Latinos for this election, with 24% of the 3,000 people polled across the country saying it was their top concern.
A nationwide exit poll of the Latino demographic by the Associated Press shows 42% of Latinos voted for Trump, a majority of them having decided he would have a better handle on the economy as president.
Camilo Ulloa is the Engagement Director for the Oklahoma County GOP, and he said Trump’s promise to enact tariffs has spurred some hope for economic return for him. A federal income tax cut would be nice too, Ulloa said.
“I’m feeling it at the supermarket right now,” he said. “And I know other Latinos really are too.”
Salvador Ontiveros, President of the nonpartisan nonprofit Latino Community Development Agency, provided KOSU with a statement addressed to Latinos in Oklahoma following Trump’s victory.
“We look forward to collaborating with the incoming administration, finding fresh opportunities to address the needs of our community, and fostering a stronger, more supportive environment for all,” Ontiveros said.
