The United States has always been a nation of immigrants. And nowhere is that more true today than in California, where first-generation immigrants make up more than one-quarter of the population, more than in any other state .
More than half of California, and 62% of L.A. County, is either foreign-born or has at least one immigrant parent, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data.
Immigrant communities are understandably scared and bracing for the worst when Donald Trump takes office next month. Deporting immigrants is at the very top of the president-elect’s 20-point agenda , which promises to “1. Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion” and “2. Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.”
The incoming administration has pledged to use the military and mass detention camps to deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally along with U.S. citizens in their families , to remove the temporary legal status for millions of immigrants, to reinstate Trump’s Muslim ban and to end birthright citizenship . These and other policies, if carried out, would tear apart families and communities and harm the economy .