In Detroit, worried immigrants ask: ‘Who will take my kids if I’m deported?’

• Immigrants are afraid about the possibility of being deported under the administration of President Donald Trump
• Some are creating guardianships allowing someone to take in their children in case the parents are picked up by ICE
• So far, despite fears, deportations have not increased under Trump 

DETROIT — The couple sat quietly as they stared at legal forms set before them on a laminate table. They’d come from their home in Venezuela to Detroit to start a new life. Now, they worried they would be deported and separated from their four children, ages 2-9.

By flickering fluorescent light at immigration service provider Freedom House Detroit, they read the Spanish version of forms to give legal guardianship of their children to a person who lives in Michigan. Once signed, if the parents were picked up by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, there would be someone who could legally take in the children rather than them going into Child Protective Services.

A notary, there to witness the signing of the forms, pointed to signature lines for the mother and father.

“Madre, aqui,” she said. “Padre, aqui.”

Immigrant service groups around Michigan say they are witnessing a rush of families creating guardianships for children, some of whom were born in the United States, in preparation for what they fear will be an increase in deportations under the new administration of President Donald Trump.

Like all others at the Freedom House, the Venezuelan couple are seeking asylum and have legal status to be in the United States, but they fear that now may be jeopardized.

In one of Trump’s first acts as president, he removed what is known as “temporary protective status” for citizens of Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba. The status was given to residents of countries where the US considered it unsafe to return due to humanitarian emergencies.

The last day of protection under temporary protective status is April 5.

So far, deportations have not increased under Trump, and the large raids that many in the immigrant community fear have not materialized, at least not so far in Michigan. Still, the guardianship rush is an example of the heightened anxiety among those in Michigan who are at risk of deportation.

“We have families that are very scared,” said Elizabeth Orozco-Vasquez, chief executive officer of Freedom House,  which provides services and transitional housing for immigrants new to the country. “They are telling us, ‘What can we expect?’ And unfortunately, we have to tell them we don’t know. Every day is absolutely new.”

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Freedom House currently provides housing for about 230 people who have recently arrived in the U.S. and are working toward permanent residency, including about 50 children, in two Detroit facilities. Current residents are citizens of 29 countries and speak 11 languages. Between 60% and 80% say they were victims of torture in their native land.

“It’s like a little United Nations here,” Orozco-Vasquez said.

It was a quiet UN on a recent visit. There are bicycles and children’s toys outside a housing facility in Southwest Detroit, but there is no one in sight. Inside, dormitory-style hallways are empty.

Immigrants who live at the facility are staying in their rooms more than in the past, Orozco-Vasquez told Bridge Michigan, especially after ICE agents showed up at the facility recently. The agents were not allowed entry, with Orozco-Vasquez claiming the agents did not have a warrant.

“If they have a warrant signed by a judge, we will comply,” Orozco-Vasquez said.

Freedom House staff is now advising residents to always carry their immigration documents when they leave the facility. 

On Friday, the staff held the first of multiple days of notary service for those seeking guardianships for their children. Such a service had not been requested by residents before Jan. 20, when Trump took office after a campaign that vowed to remove millions of undocumented immigrants. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order titled “Protecting the American people against invasion.”

That order claimed that “many of these aliens unlawfully within the United States present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans.  Others are engaged in hostile activities, including espionage, economic espionage, and preparations for terror-related activities.  Many have abused the generosity of the American people, and their presence in the United States has cost taxpayers billions of dollars at the Federal, State, and local levels.”

Nationwide, about 10.5 million people live in the United States without legal authorization — double the number from 1995, but roughly the same as 2017, when Trump was president, according to the Pew Research Center.

In Michigan, about 91,000 people are in the state illegally, about 1.2% of the state’s population, according to the nonpartisan research firm Migration Policy Institute.

Exit polls in the November presidential election indicated that voters favored Trump’s pro-deportation views more than the immigration stance of Democratic candidate former Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The issue remains divisive in Michigan. State residents were split on the economic impact of deporting immigrants who do not have legal documents to be in the country in a January poll conducted by the Glengariff Group for the Detroit Regional Chamber.

That same poll found that less than 1 in 5 (18.8%) said they had been personally impacted by illegal immigration.

The costs involved with deportation, or letting undocumented immigrants stay, is complicated.

A report from the American Immigration Council, an immigration rights research and policy firm, estimated that it would cost $88 billion to deport 1 million undocumented immigrants.

One study estimated that illegal immigrants cost the federal government $66.5 billion in 2023; while another study calculated that the undocumented paid $96.7 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022.  

One fear residents often share with Orozco-Vasquez is having their children abandoned at school because their parents have been picked up by ICE. The guardianship forms legally give schools a backup person to call to pick up children, she said.

“They need to designate someone,” Orozco-Vasquez said. “One of the big problems we’re seeing is that we have so many families that have no one to give that power of attorney.”

One family that was scheduled to sign guardianship paperwork Friday backed out because they couldn’t find anyone to agree to take their children in case of deportation.

Volunteering her time as notary on Friday was Melissa Rios, whose children attend a nearby school that is “highly immigrant, dominated by newcomers.

“Just putting myself in that place of fear, I want to be here to help any way I can.”

Three families signed guardianship paperwork Friday, with others scheduled for appointments this week, said Legal Aid Manager Andry Meyers.

“Things are changing rapidly, and we want to be one step ahead,” Meyers said. “It’s a very difficult decision for these families, because they’ve been here less than a year and they have to decide who will raise their child.”