A person holds a sign that reads “Mass Deportation Now” on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
I live in McPherson in a neighborhood of small, boxy houses, many built in 1946 for returning soldiers. It’s not an expensive neighborhood, and all kinds of people live here: old folks like me and young people with children, white folks like me and people of color. Judging by the people I speak to as they walk down my street, some of my neighbors are Latino. Some are of South Asian or Philippine descent. Some are Black. The old folks tend to be white. The children are very mixed.
Now I’m asking myself what will happen in my neighborhood if President-elect Donald Trump actually manages to begin deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants “ on day one ” of his administration. Most of these folks — more than 80% — have lived here more than 10 years. I don’t know whether any of my neighbors are undocumented — or even if they’re immigrants. (Pew Research Center estimates that there are 80,000 undocumented immigrants in Kansas , and I know that some of them live in my town.) I assume Trump will have to send someone to find the undocumented and round them up.