On the 2024 campaign trail, former President and GOP candidate again, Donald Trump, has promised sweeping raids and mass deportations if he wins a second term as president.
That has left many in the state wondering where would that leave some Minnesotans.
Trump's plan would not only impact the estimated 95,000 undocumented people who call Minnesota home, but also documented temporary residents who make up a fairly large portion of Minnesota workforce.
Twin Cities Immigration lawyer Sarah Gad say the current plan could be considered unconstitutional.
"They've been contributing to the economy, to the communities, to societies and to just block them from their life here, it violates so many tenants of the constitution, just humanitarian norms," Gad says.
According to the American Immigration Council, immigrant-led households in the state paid $2.9 billion in federal taxes and $1.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2018. 20 percent of immigrants work in the healthcare industry which is struggling to staff hospitals and clinics.
The plan proposed by Trump would suspend the U.S. refugee program, eliminate visitors from certain countries, revoke temporary protected status, and attempt to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented parents.
Gad says there are steps undocumented and temporary status residents can take to protect themselves in the event of a nationwide raid.
"Check to see if you have some sort of basis for eligibility, you know, before November and get the process going so that you have this protection," Gad explained. "And you will be less likely to just be expelled."
ACLU PLANS TO COMBAT TRUMP PLANS
The American Civil Liberties Union says they are already planning on how they will attempt to combat the effort in the event of another Trump Presidency.
The ACLU filed legal challenges against former President Donald Trump ‘s administration more than 400 times during his time in the White House, helping to halt an array of policies, including separating immigrant children from their parents.
Immigration is a centerpiece of the former president’s campaign to reclaim the White House.
Trump has endorsed major arrest operations against people in the country illegally with the help of the National Guard. He’s talked of opening sprawling detention camps and fast-tracking deportations.
He’s also discussed ending automatic citizenship for anyone born in this country, a guarantee in the 14th Amendment that some conservatives argue shouldn’t apply to the children of people in the U.S. illegally. Trump may additionally revive some of his first-term policies, like banning entry into the U.S. of people from some majority-Muslim countries or separating immigrant families anew.
HOW WILL TRUMP RESPOND?
The conservative Heritage Foundation has helped create a more than 1,000-page “Project 2025” handbook. It includes scores of proposed actions on immigration and could potentially make a new Trump White House more prepared to overcome lawsuits on the issue than the first one was.
“The second Trump administration, if there is one, will be better prepared,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law practice at Cornell University.
He noted that the first Trump administration often saw its policies halted by rulemaking and procedural mistakes that it could fix this time around — it could use past legal decisions to find workarounds.
“Both sides have seen the litigation battles, and seen how the courts have ruled,” Yale-Loehr said.
WHAT ABOUT PRESIDENT BIDEN?
President Joe Biden is also working to significantly restrict the number of immigrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. Romero said the ACLU is preparing likely legal challenges against that order. His group repeatedly sued the Biden and Obama administrations over immigration policy in the past — though not at the pace of its challenges to Trump’s White House.
The ACLU is also planning to release six upcoming issue memos for Biden’s reelection bid ahead of August’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“There’s a stark contrast between Biden and Trump,” ACLU President Anthony Romero said, “but there’s still an unfinished agenda with Team Biden.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.