With President-elect Donald Trump set to take office next month for a second, nonconsecutive term, attention is turning to his policy agenda and its possible implications for individuals and communities.
While the lack of a formal GOP platform during the campaign has rendered many aspects of that agenda ambiguous, Trump and his advisers have made clear many of the immigration policy actions they would seek to take in office. These include, among several others: conducting mass deportation of millions of unauthorized immigrants; revoking temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries suffering from violence and natural disasters; and suspending protections for students and workers whose parents brought them to the U.S. unlawfully when they were children.
In a recent report, I argued that these actions and others would have disproportionate impacts on U.S. cities and urban areas, given that most foreign-born individuals live and work in these places. This report extends and deepens that analysis, drawing on other recent research to examine the profiles and locations of specific immigrant groups that Trump’s policy proposals may affect in the near term. As the analysis shows, those policies could reach a large and geographically diverse range of places, and dramatically disrupt local businesses, schools, public safety agencies, and community institutions. In addition to helping local and state leaders understand the potential impacts of these actions on their residents and communities, the report also suggests important ways in which these leaders might prepare and respond.
