President-elect Donald Trump has promised to begin his new term by starting the largest deportation program in American history, aiming to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. But Aaron Morris executive director of Immigration Equality, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting LGBTQ+ immigrants through legal services and litigation has said its already preparing to combat Trumps plans.Unfortunately, we have survived and thrived through a previous Trump administration, so there are certain expectations that we will have, and steps he will take, that will hurt both immigrant communities at large and also target LGBTQ immigrants, Morris told Gay City News. We are preparing various strategies and mapping out possibilities to stop harm from happening. Related U.S. immigration policy has always been based on racism Anti-semitism, Christianity, eugenics, and white supremacy have all played a role in who is (and isnt) considered worthy of being an American. Trump has pledged to reinstatehis ban on immigration from majority-Muslim countries.He threatened to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the same law used to justify the internment of Japanese and German Americans during World War II, to put millions of immigrants in internment camps. He has also insinuated that he may deport naturalized citizens and the undocumented parents of children who gained birthright citizenship by being born in the United States. Your LGBTQ+ guide to Election 2024 Stay ahead of the 2024 Election with our newsletter that covers candidates, issues, and perspectives that matter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Morris says he expects Trump to issue sweeping executive orders that overreach his legal authority during his first 100 days in office. Those orders will trigger court challenges that may take months to sort out, but they will also create fear, confusion, and anti-immigration sentiment that may endanger immigrants and people of color.While Morris says he and his organization disagreed with the immigration and deportation policies of President Joe Biden, Immigration Equality at least maintained an open dialogue with the administration. Morris expects his organization to play a much more defensive role in the second Trump administration, similar to the role his organization played during Trumps first.Despite Trumps anti-immigrant rhetoric, his and Bidens records on immigrant deportations have been mixed. Millions more Central and South Americans have attempted border crossings during Bidens presidency than during Trumps, and Biden deported, returned, or expelled millions more of these immigrants than Trump did, according to The Washington Post. However, Trump deported hundreds of thousands of more undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S. than Biden did. Even though Biden deported more immigrants than Trump, he also repeatedly tried to protect undocumented immigrants already living in the United States, prioritizing the removal of immigrants deemed as public safety threats and pursuing efforts to create an easier pathway to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of immigrantsmarriedto U.S. citizens. In contrast, Trump has repeatedlyused racism and fascist rhetoric to demonize darker-skinned immigrants as rapists, murderers, and thieves who are poisoning the blood of our country. He has also appointed anti-LGBTQ+ white nationalist Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy, a man who declared during Trumps re-election campaign that America is for Americans and Americans only. Trumps deportation plan would break up law-abiding families that have been living, working, and paying taxes in the U.S. for decades. This would not only causethe U.S. to lose an estimated $100 billion a yearin taxes paid by immigrants, but it would also massively destabilize the agriculture, construction, and hospitality industries, all of which rely on immigrant labor. In some ways, [Trumps victory was] shockingly disappointing given the ramifications of what is going to happen to the queer community and immigrant community, Morris said. Stay strong, he added. We have weathered this storm before. We will do our part to chip away at everything Donald Trump will do, but we need people to open their homes, to open their government People can see the storm coming. People are going to be very afraid. At most, his administration will last four years.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.