WORKING NOW BUT FEARING DEPORTATION

WORKING NOW BUT FEARING DEPORTATION

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/immigrants-gripped-by-deportation-fears-with-trump-election/ar-AAka7Hh?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=mailsignout#image=AAka0Wx|1

Thirty-two-year-old Karina Ruiz is one of 741,000 immigrants benefiting from the program launched by President Barack Obama called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

It allows young adults to get work permits, social security numbers and protects them from deportation.

The Phoenix mother of three says deferred action allowed her to work and graduate with a biochemistry degree from Arizona State University in 2015. She hopes to be a pharmacist one day.

But Trump has promised to end DACA, and Ruiz fears she could be sent to Mexico and separated from her U.S.-born children.

"I feel bothered by this election but it only inspires me to just keep going forward because what's at stake is not only my deferred action but my family as well, my father, my mother and the 11 million immigrants all across the country," Nazario said.

ASPIRING LAWYER FEARS DEPORTATION TO SOUTH KOREA

Matt Lee's parents brought him on a tourist visa to Southern California from South Korea when he was 13. Now 25, he has a college biology degree and wants to attend law school so he can become a patent lawyer.

He was among the first to apply for the DACA program and now works legally, helping other South Koreans fill out immigration forms.

But his dreams of becoming a lawyer are clouded by Trump's vow to get rid of DACA.

Other young immigrants have told him they fear they will be tracked down for deportation because the federal government has their names and addresses, courtesy of their DACA applications. One mother said she is pulling her daughter out of a study abroad program in China to get the daughter back into the U.S. before Trump takes office, Lee said.

"People are not sure if Trump will definitely carry out what he said because it is a crazy idea," he said. "Now the crazy idea of him being elected — that happened. Nothing is certain."

NO GREEN CARD WITHOUT A RETURN TO MEXICO

Dora Rodriguez has lived in the U.S. illegally for 27 years but has still managed to raise her two U.S.-born children and work at a money transfer business in Santa Ana, California. More than 75 percent of the city's residents are Latino, and nearly half of them were born abroad.

Rodriguez said her daughter is now an adult, and could sponsor Rodriguez for permanent residency.

But Rodriguez, in her 40s, would have to return to Mexico to apply and risk staying there for years to get her papers, leaving behind her teenage son in the U.S.

She remembers anti-immigration sentiment in the 1990s in California but that didn't get her deported. She said she doubted much would end up changing under a Trump presidency.

"When (former California Governor) Pete Wilson was here, I heard the same ... and nothing happened," she said.

AVOIDING POLICE TO AVOID DEPORTATION

Alicia Ramirez, in the U.S. for three decades, doesn't think Trump will be able to target immigrants like her but says she's going to start taking extra precautions soon just to make sure she can stay in Santa Ana.

Ramirez, who is in the country illegally and hands out restaurant fliers on a street lined with money transfer businesses and tamale vendors, said avoiding run-ins with law enforcement officers will be key.

That's more challenging for her and others handing out fliers on the streets than the immigrants working inside offices lining the strip.

"We're afraid," Ramirez said if Trump, "We've got to be careful because the smallest mistake, he's going to kick us out."

Reported from Santa Ana, California.

Two days after the U.S. presidential election, demonstrators staged a rally in downtown Philadelphia to object to the political agenda of President-elect Donald J. Trump.



A woman protests Donald Trump's presidential election victory in front of City Hall in San Francisco, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016



Hope Robertson, 17, of Mission High School, holds up a sign in front of City Hall in protest of the election of Republican Donald Trump as president of the U.S. in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Nov. 10.



High school students march in opposition to Trump's victory in San Francisco on Nov. 10.



Protesters burn an effigy of Trump, outside City Hall in Los Angeles on Nov. 9.



Women stage a march in New York City on Nov. 9.



A demonstrator wears a headpiece depicting the crown of the Statue of Liberty during a protest in San Francisco, California, U.S. on Nov. 9.



Hundreds of protesters rally against Donald Trump outside of Trump Tower on Nov 9, in New York City.



Thousands of protesters march down 2nd Avenue on Nov. 9, in Seattle.



Demonstrators hold signs outside Trump Tower on Nov. 9.



Protesters seen in downtown Chicago on Nov. 9.