After Trump's election, some Latino Minnesotans change focus

NINA MOINI: President-elect Donald Trump kicked off the week by building his staff around immigration. This morning, he announced his chief of staff for policy will be Stephen Miller, an advocate for stricter immigration enforcement. And last night, he announced that his former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, will be back again to oversee border control. If you'd listened to Donald Trump during his campaign, you've probably heard something along these lines.

DONALD TRUMP: We will seal the border, stop the invasion.

They came in illegally. They're destroying our country. We're getting them out.

We're going to have to seal up those borders.

We're like a garbage can for the world.

On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out.

He says, you're not going to be a dictator, are you? I said, no, no, no, other than day one. We're closing the border. And we're drilling, drilling, drilling.

NINA MOINI: A Minnesota organization focused on Latino Minnesotans called COPAL helped make 200,000 phone calls ahead of last week's election to try to get Latino voters to the polls. Now, a big part of the reason for those efforts was concern over the thought of a second Donald Trump presidency. Now, the group's switching gears to respond to another term. Francisco Segovia is the executive director of COPAL Minnesota, and he's here to talk about what life looked like for some Latino residents of Minnesota during President Trump's last term and how they're planning for the near future. Francisco, thank you for being here this afternoon.

FRANCISCO SEGOVIA: Thank you for having me with you.

NINA MOINI: So what we just heard is a bit of a summary. What was your first reaction to learning about President-elect Trump's win last week?

FRANCISCO SEGOVIA: It is challenging. It becomes one of those things where our life is always on the line every time that we have an election. It's not only at the state or national level, but it's always where our community became a scapegoat for many, many politicians and as a way to gain elections. And so that's a very disappointing place to be as a community, where you are always the criminal, you are always a drug drug dealer, you are always the person doing a lot of wrong things.

And it doesn't taste good with us, with our family, with our children, because we are people who have a lot of dreams. We are people that invest a lot in this society, and we are making this place, what it is, better. And so when we have those statements, that doesn't feel good on us. And obviously when a person who made those statements becomes elected, it creates a sense of desperation. And that's where our families are. Many families are very desperate at this moment.

NINA MOINI: The Census Bureau says that Latino residents make up an estimated 7% of Minnesotans. Those are just the most recent numbers there that we know of, many of them born here, many of them able to vote. Much has been made about how the Latino vote, so to speak, after the election. Did you talk to many people who had voted for President Trump or were planning to do so? Some of the stories say Latino men went more so for Donald Trump. What is your assessment of that situation?

FRANCISCO SEGOVIA: We have canvassers engaging people, and we have various conversations. And it is interesting. And I have friends as well. I know people, friends, male friends, who were leaning to vote for Trump. And so some of the conversations can be pretty interesting in a way that some people see the economical aspect of if we had this president, our wealth, our economics is going to be much better.

And when you ask, but what about the other things that he said during the election, people hesitate and finds a way to justify. He probably is not going to do anything like that. He's just going to make sure that we can build, keep building wealth and that the Latino community is going to benefit. The threats of deportation may not happen. So there is this psychological, I will say, way to justify one thing and believe that the other threat is not happening.

NINA MOINI: It's hard to talk about the Latino vote or the this group vote. And everybody is an individual and is formed by their individual experiences. Trump has said in his presidential campaign that he would get serious about mass deportations for possibly anyone who is living in the US without citizenship. How is your organization responding to that? What are you getting ready for in the next year or four years? I think there are many different levels of the threat because we have people without documents.

We have people with work permits like the DACA and TPS recipients. We have people who have green cards and, obviously, the citizens. So the threat is for everyone, but including for people who are US born non-Latinos because we have many, many mixed status families as well. So in this case, when all these actions, if they materialize as it looks like it's going to happen, it's going to impact the entire society.

So when you look at, for instance, let's say roofing-- so when you walk through Minnesota, you see a lot of roofers are Latinos. Nobody knows are undocumented or undocumented because that's what it appears. So as a Latino person, someone believed that I don't have documents. But in any case, what you will see is that if people by fear decides to leave, for instance, or move somewhere else, the economy is going to impact. Who is going to do the roofing work? Who's going to do so many other jobs that the entire society benefits from? What we ate this morning-- some of us ate our tomatoes this morning. Who is going to harvest those tomatoes? So an entire society is impacted.

Obviously, you mentioned Tom Homan. I heard his interview today in 60 Minutes, where he was asked, would you separate families? And he basically said, no, I won't separate families. I will deport the entire family. So when you think about those statements, what is the impact in our communities? And so that's what our community is hearing right now. And obviously, the fear is growing.

I was asking some of my team members, have you met anyone who voted for Trump, a Latino person who voted for Trump, and how this person is feeling about it now? And my team members are saying, we haven't seen it yet, but we'll see what happens, because at the end, that person is going to be impacted as well.

NINA MOINI: And you mentioned Tom Homan. I just want to tell everybody that's the head of, soon to be again, it looks like, ICE.

FRANCISCO SEGOVIA: Yes.

NINA MOINI: I'm curious how you feel about immigration policy. A lot of people on both sides of the aisles, the political parties, feel like a lot needs to improve around the US Southern border, immigration policy in general. We know that a lot of people were able to come into the country across the southern border under the Biden administration, many of them without the proper legal documentation. From your perspective, what would be good and helpful reform, maybe a few things that you think would actually be helpful to the nation and keep the economy intact, as you mentioned?

FRANCISCO SEGOVIA: Yeah. That's a good question. And it's important to share with the listeners that immigration doesn't begin at the border. There are some factors in people's home countries, my home country, that pushes people out. And sometimes US policies generate immigration as well. For instance, I came to the United States in Minnesota in 1990. My country, El Salvador, was going through a civil war. The US was involved. During the '80s, thousands of Salvadorans end up leaving El Salvador, and many, many ended up in the United States, including myself.

Many of us ended up crossing borders without papers. I was forced to do that as well to save my life. And eventually, I was able to get documents. So two things here-- one, there are factors that pushes people. Climate change is one of them now. And lack of good economies in our countries pushes people out. Number two, we are forced to cross borders without proper procedures. Many of us will prefer to have a way to move. And then when you are here, the idea of being undocumented is a moving target. 1990, I didn't have documents. Eventually, I was able to get a work permit, like a TPS. Eventually, I was able to get a green card and then became a citizen.

And so for these many years, I have been a contribute to this society. I have kids who were born here and contribute to that society. So it is key that to think that we are humans as well. As Europeans ended up in this part of the world many years ago, many of us are coming because we are looking for opportunities due to our societies are not functioning better. Should the United States have a better policy to that region so we stop immigration? I think so. I think there are opportunities. Many people, many of us don't want to leave our home countries.

NINA MOINI: Sure. Francisco, before I let you go, as we embark upon the next presidential term, what are you telling people who come to you who are afraid?

FRANCISCO SEGOVIA: Well, one is let's live one day at a time. So it is key that we don't react, that we wait. It is key that we engage our elected officials. Thank god we are in Minnesota where we have so many great elected officials. And I know also some Republicans at the state level who are very in tune with our communities. And so we need to keep engaging our elected communities.

We need to keep organizing and protecting ourselves from potential raids and prepare families. And in the worst case, obviously, we are going to see how the community come together and protect themselves because that's the best that we can do and hoping to tell the rest of the community, the non-Latino community, the white community, hey, we are your neighbors. We are your brothers, your sisters, who have the same dreams that you have. Join us on this. Let's protect our communities.

NINA MOINI: Francisco, thank you. I look forward to talking more as things unfold in the months and years to come.

FRANCISCO SEGOVIA: Thank you.

NINA MOINI: That was COPAL Minnesota's executive director, Francisco Segovia.