Bay Area Latinos Concerned About Deportation In Wake Of Election
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- The stakes of this election were particularly high for Latinos. With a Trump presidency sealed, the fear of deportation is weighing heavy on some Bay Area residents.
For sisters Flor and Victoria Martinez, Tuesday night's election of Donald Trump brought down their hopes and dreams for life in America.
"This morning, reality hit and I said, 'Wow, I wish I could have done something,'" said Flor.
The two women are not allowed to vote because they're not U.S. citizens.
Flor and Victoria's parents brought them illegally into the country when they were three and one years old.
For now they're protected under President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals known as DACA. That allows them to stay, work, go to school and have a driver's license.
But that could end since Trump promised to begin deporting people like them on his first day in office.
"Unlike this administration, no one will be immune or exempt from enforcement, and ICE and Border Patrol will be allowed to do their jobs," Trump said during his campaign.
The sisters worry about their two younger brothers -- U.S. citizens by birth -- and how their family could be broken apart to give the boys the American dream.
"If we had to go back, we wouldn't want them to go with us, because they made it here," said Flor. "They're allowed to stay and we wouldn't want to take that from them, even if they tried to go back with us. That's barely hitting me now. I wouldn't allow them to leave with us."
Jesus Ruiz, a community organizer with People Acting in Community Together or PACT, says that fear is running rampant in the undocumented community Wednesday night.
"We're hearing a lot of people ask, 'Should I just pack my things and go? I don't want to get picked up at my house. I don't want to leave on their terms,'" explained Ruiz. "People just want to get out and go. And that's scary."