For undocumented migrants across the US, fears are becoming very real – of a knock on the door from the authorities, of potential separation from their children, of the loss of the lives they’ve built up here.
Additional reporting by Freddie Gower
As Donald Trump takes office for a second time, people across the US are about to find out what his policies look like in reality.
During a heated election campaign, there was one promise Trump repeated at every rally – to launch the “largest deportation programme in American history”, in a bid to drastically reduce the number of undocumented migrants, and deter illegal crossings at the southern border.
Deportations on that scale would likely face huge logistical, financial and legal hurdles, and there’s been much speculation about how they could work in practice.
One thing is certain, though: for America’s estimated eleven million undocumented migrants, Trump’s plans are a source of major concern.
Many of them have lived in the US for years, building lives and carrying out low-paid work that most American citizens avoid.
In the farmlands outside Bakersfield, California, there’s fear in the air. The fruit and vegetables picked in these vast fields help feed America, but almost all the people doing this hot, backbreaking work are undocumented Hispanic migrants.
“You can see here in the field, there are no white folks working,” Raul tells me. He and his wife came here from Mexico ten years ago. They have three kids, all born in the US, all US citizens.
“I don’t understand the point of kicking us out. We Latinos are the ones who do the work. I’d like to see [Trump] or some of his people come and do this job some day.”
Industry groups agree, warning of food shortages and higher prices if mass deportations go ahead. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are already carrying out raids in this area, however – something that’s likely to increase under Trump’s expected directives.
Concerns are not confined to the fields, though.
Back in town, I meet Maria. She fled violence in Colombia three years ago, and now – aged 24 – runs a cleaning business which provides jobs for other migrants, while sending money to her parents back home.
“We’ve been made into targets – not just me and my family, but many Latinos here,” she tells me. “He’s planted this fear of not knowing what will happen.”
She, like many others, believes her presence here is a boost for the US, despite her lack of legal status.
“We want a future here and in our home countries. We want to create change for the new generations, both here and back home,” she says. “We came here to do things right, we didn’t come to harm this country.”
Whatever policies he enacts, Trump’s hardline stance on immigration has won the support of many Americans, and he believes he has a strong mandate to deport far more than the roughly 1.5 million people removed during his first term.
For undocumented migrants living here in Bakersfield and across the US, fears – of a knock on the door from the authorities, of potential separation from their children, of the loss of the lives they’ve built up here – are becoming very real.
Ronald Reagan once said America’s strength comes from its immigrant heritage and capacity to welcome foreigners. It’s up to the incoming Republican president to decide how far that welcome is extended.