Advocates, migrants fear Trump’s deportation strike

FLANDREAU, S.D. (KELO) – Since President Donald Trump took office, there are reports of as many as 2,500 immigrants who have been deported.

“We halted all illegal entry. We have successfully ended Catch and Release and we are supporting with deporting. One hundred percent of all new trespassers, apprehended at the border,” said President Donald Trump.

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Hearing those kinds of comments have left many migrants and advocates worried about who might be impacted next.

“I can’t believe that there is so much hate because American people is not for that,” Nitza Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein is no stranger to what’s happening to migrants across the country. She’s been a proud American citizen for 40 years. She now finds herself working at Julia’s Tienda Latina in Flandreau, South Dakota. Apart from her job, she’s helping other migrants create better lives for themselves here in the U.S.

“When I came over here, we started helping immigrants with helping translating, going to the post offices, the courthouse, translating when they have court cases, going to the pharmacy, helping them to get their medical prescriptions,” Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein agrees there should be rules to enter the U.S., but said separating families is not the appropriate response for when that rule isn’t followed.

“There is no hate in my heart. There is not a bad intention in my heart. And I know of many of my people, they know they don’t want to come over here and steal and take anything from anybody,” Rubenstein said.

She said many simply want the freedom to work.

“I’m just wondering who is going to build the roads? Who is going to build the houses? Who will raise the pigs, the chickens, the eggs? Who? Who’s going to do it?” Rubenstein said. “There is only one people that do that. We are the Latino immigrants.”

There are additional resources that help to educate and welcome Spanish-speaking individuals to the South Dakota community: Bienvenidos a Brookings, Salem-Zion Mennonite Church, and South Dakota Voices for Peace.