Advocates and immigration experts say that some people’s recent decision to leave the U.S., despite legal immigration status, shows how uncertainty and threats have led a growing number of people to leave the U.S. before Trump takes office on Monday, the AP reports. For instance, Michel Bérrios, 31, a former leader of a Nicaraguan student uprising, left the United States a few days before New Year, even though she was in the country legally, with nearly a year remaining under President Joe Biden’s use of humanitarian parole for citizens of certain vulnerable countries, including Nicaragua. “There isn’t data on these departures, but history has seen other eras of public backlash that drove migrants — with or without legal status — out,” the AP story notes. “Trump and his allies are counting on this “self-deportation,” the idea that life can be made unbearable enough to make people leave.”
“If you wanna self-deport, you should self-deport because, again, we know who you are, and we’re gonna come and find you,” Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan has said. And Bérrios is familiar with the fear that comes with national crackdowns. In Nicaragua, “I spent five years hiding. I had to change my routine. I had to completely change my life. I stopped visiting my parents, my friends,” Bérrios said of President Daniel Ortega’s suppression of dissent. With Trump returning to power, “that uncertainty has returned,” she said. Bérrios’ fear is natural for anyone without permanent legal status, said Melanie Nezer, vice president for advocacy and external relations at the Women’s Refugee Commission. Even people with temporary permission to live and work, like Bérrios, may see that status end soon. “Many, many people are in this situation,” Nezer said. About 1 million people have temporary protected status and about another 500,000 like Bérrios have humanitarian parole granted to asylum-seekers from four countries: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Trump has said he wants to end both.
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