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As sources say Trump could deport undocumented Chinese first, Asian American groups rush to prep

www.nbcnews.com As sources say Trump could deport undocumented Chinese first, Asian American groups rush to prep

Sources previously told NBC News that undocumented Chinese nationals of military age will be among the first groups targeted for deportation by the incoming Trump administration.

Summary

Asian American groups are preparing for potential deportations of undocumented Chinese nationals, particularly military-age men, under Trump’s proposed immigration policies.

Sources indicate Chinese nationals may be prioritized due to alleged national security concerns, reflecting broader anti-China sentiment.

Community organizations are creating multilingual resources, coordinating legal support, and educating families on their rights.

Trump’s rhetoric ties Chinese immigrants to fears of espionage, intensifying anxieties.

Advocates highlight the historical targeting of minority groups during national security crises and warn of significant impacts on vulnerable communities, urging solidarity and swift action.

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Also to anyone saying “well how can they deport a citizen when the other country won’t take them since they’re not one of their citizens?”

That’s the point…. They’ll stay locked up in internment camps because the US “is looking into their citizenship status” and they’ll stay there for an indefinite time.
- "Then what happens when those get too full?"
  
  Guess what happened in Germany.
  
  My money is on them building more camps instead. The prison industrial complex would be very unhappy about slaves going to waste.
  
  In Germany Nazis literally worked them to death (Vernichtung dutch Rabbit)
  
  Typo too weird to fix it
- Because what's cheaper than even undocumented immigrants labor? Prison labor.
  
  I don't think that's true. Imprisoned people have to have their basic needs met by the state (food, shelter, clothing, etc.). People outside prison have to provide that themselves.
- Call them what they are. Concentration camps.
  
  And I've been saying the same thing. In fact, treaties will have to be negotiated with a lot of those countries even if they will be willing to take those citizens back. They can't just land a bunch of C-130s in Shanghai and push all the undocumented Chinese immigrants out onto the tarmac.
  
  These people will be interred for a long time. In concentration camps.
- They should know, private prison stocks went up on his winning the election. But after the misinformation and willing ignorance in display, I'm not surprised they don't.
- Yes indeed. https://abcnews.go.com/US/trumps-deportation-plan-private-prison-industry-sees-lucrative/story?id=115775702
- Yes exactly. Whenever you go down the road:
  
  “They should go back to where they came from”
  
  It always concludes with kill them all eventually.
  
  These people went to another country because they had no good home, there is no home to go back to.
  
  They have arrived and are willing to do anything for a good life, a smart country would harness that energy instead of pretending these are spoiled expats that just wanted more.
- And then, while they are waiting, they can lend them out (for a small fee) to do labor. What a tidy system!
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller
My dad remarried a China-nese lady after my mom passed away. He voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024. I love this lady like my own mom, but the leopard is coming in to eat soon.
- Doesn't that mean she is at least a legal resident, if not a US citizen? Either way, if she's married to a US citizen then she isn't undocumented.
  
  In the 1930s, over a third of all deportations were actually American citizens.
  
  if she’s married to a US citizen then she isn’t undocumented
  
  Untrue. It depends on how long you were out of status and what sort of status you had in the first place. If you never had a visa in the first place you really are shit out of luck and can only apply for a green card after you self deport (which may get you a 10 year ban on reentry after you so it or if you've entered the country illegally more than once you get a lifetime ban with no possibility of appeal even if you're married to an American citizen and have American citizen children with them).
  
  https://www.boundless.com/faqs/overstayed-visa-marriage-consequences/
  
  https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/A2en.pdf
Noteworthy, Trump's support from Asian American voters grew 5 points to 39% in 2024.

The AsiansMAGA PAC raised $77,063.89 for Trump, outspending some other Asian American PACs but admittedly not as much as the AAPI.

Not saying they deserve it or anything, but there certainly will be some leopards eating the faces among them.
- It’s worth mentioning that there should be some distinction between first and second+ generation immigrants. Often even amongst each other there is division so those who support Trump may not have to worry about being deported.
  
  You are making the mistaken assumption that the brute squad will bother to differentiate between them. How many second+ generation immigrants carry around proof of citizenship, anyway? They can be detained just like anyone else who doesn't look right.
  
  (And it's super easy to carry that now, the passport card is cheap, fits in your wallet, and is a good first line of defense against being disappeared.)
  
  History has shown that US citizens will get deported.
- Once again. This is because less people voted democratic. Same number over a smaller total is a larger percentage.
  
  Seeing 10M less Democrats vote when the Republican numbers were about the same was the biggest gut check I had. People would rather just not vote, than vote for a half black woman. That was really sad. And don’t anyone dare tell me it was about Gaza, that’s just a load of BS.
  
  I.e. people that could have prevented this but decided they'd rather have their faces eaten.
  
  Yeah thats fair.
- only citizens can vote though? i don't think any of those people will be deported.
  
  You should look into Operation Wetback 1 and 2, where the US deported a bunch of Mexican immigrants (legal, illegal, documented and undocumented alike) and US citizens to Mexico for "looking too Mexican."
  
  Citizenship means nothing to racists.
  
  Trump in 2020 created a new DOJ office called the Denaturalization Section who would seek out cases and argue to strip citizenship. It is assumed he will start the same process again next year when he reenters office.
  
  But even without that, the roughly 15-20 Million people in the USA which Trump promises to remove because they are undocumented likely have friends and family
  
  You can be stripped of citizenship. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/immigration-law/can-us-citizenship-be-revoked/
  
  Citizens may have non-citizen friends and family who are potential targets.
- That anti-blackness the majority of Asian residents like to indulge in is biting them in the ass now.
The British thought immigrants would be deported after the Brexit too. But then they quickly realized they form the backbone of some of the critical sectors like hospitality, logistics, construction etc. So they quietly pretended like nothing ever happened.
- Here in the US, undocumented immigrants form the backbone of food production (agriculture and meat processing) and restaurants, such that mass deportations would cause unimaginable inflation in food prices. I want to think that means the Republicans won't actually do it, but I thought they wouldn't actually overturn Roe v. Wade either.
  
  In fact, there's a wealthy municipality here where I live that made rules that houses could only be built by individuals with a very niche paperwork, or something. The details allude me. At it's core, it was a xenophobic move to block "illegals" from being able to do their work, by "taking care of our own first".
  
  The issue was there was literally none of "our own".
  
  What I will remember however, is that no construction was able to happen for almost a whole year. The municipality had to repeal that rule to get construction started again. The ignorance and vast stupidity of the conservatives/regressionists never ceases to amaze me.
  
  Also construction contracting too. Get your roof replaced and you will see crews of very efficient Latinos doing the work.
- Yeah, and the Brexit vote fucked us. Being in the EU was great. Anyone could see that leaving wasn't going to make much difference to immigration.
  
  It made some difference, but the racists really self-owned on that one by making the country outwardly hostile to generally white EU migrants.
  
  This was quickly followed by an uptick in not white, non EU migrants that the casual racist abhors.
  
  Particularly evident in NHS recruitment with EU recruits stagnating and African/Asian recruits increasing.
  
  Aside from that, the vote has pretty much fucked us all for a couple of generations minimum. Put to vote, I would gladly rejoin, even at the expense of the Pound. We'll never see the almost 2:1 buying power against the Dollar ever again anyway.
- They thought that Brext would deport Pakistan people, leaving the French. Instead, it deported French and left a Pakistan person as the PM.
Just to add it to the MOUNTAIN of IToldYaSo I am saving up. If you are a LEGAL immigrant, make plans, you might become illegal over night. These people are insane and vile, protect yourself.
- Even if you were born here, he wants to revoke citizenship from second-generation immigrants too.
  
  Yeah, that is even more insane. Removing birthright citizenship is just sick.
  
  I'm a 15th generation American citizen and I still feel threatened
  
  Permanently Deleted
How likely do y'all think that I as a US Citizen with Chinese ancestry is gonna get deported.

Becausing looking back in history, e.g the Chinese Exclusion Act, it doesn't give me too much hope.

Welp out of one dicatorship into another 🤷‍♂️

Oh the situation is even more messed up considering the fact that in Chinese law, citizenship is automatically revoked when you obtain foreign citizenship. Guess I could end up stateless, in a CCP dictatorship.

Fuck this world.
- Depends on how Americanized you are and how racist your area is.
  
  I was curious so when I was in high school I once asked my classmates if they hear an accent when I speak, they said they don't hear an accent. I guess I pass? 🤷‍♂️
  
  I'm in Philly, it should be fine. (I hope)
- Would probably be helpful to have a passport to demonstrate citizenship.
- My bff and her brother were born here, but I'm extremely worried for them. A couple years ago DARPA approached her brother for the work he did on drone technology in college. I know her parents cut ties with their families in China when they moved here several decades ago, but that doesn't seem like enough to keep them from being harassed at minimum.
- Make sure you have your birth certificate with you.
  
  I got citizenship derived from my mom's naturalization while I was under 18. I'm gonna make copies of the document and photo backups just in case. But I'm afraid this orange dickhead is gonna attempt mass-denaturalization by making up bogus "CCP Spy" accusations.
- My concern is that they'll further weaken the already pathetic judicial process for deportation (justifying it by saying it speeds up the process "and we have so many cases to get through") and citizens who get swept up by the machine won't have a chance to prove their citizenship. Because when the REAL goal is oppression and elimination of a minority group, "accidentally" deporting a few hundred citizens is a feature not a bug.
  
  If it gets that bad, your only hope is to have your documents on you at all times and hope that you're lucky enough for the boots on the ground to walk past you because of it.
"undocumented"

Well, I mean, if they're undocumented they're already just one bad luck away from getting deported, the question is, how does he plan to catch them if they're not getting caught already?
- "Papers, please"
  
  They're hitting the detain button immediately.
particularly military-age men

And give China more people to wage war against America with? Sounds like a great plan! (/s obviously)
- Indeed. The safest course of action is naturally to put them in concentration camps to avoid that possibility (/s as well).
During the 1930s when there was a mass Mexican deportation, there were a lot of US citizens rounded up and deported. Don't trust these guys will not make the same mistake. Of course, a decade later, Mexicans streamed across the border to mind farms and ranches while US manpower was in WWII. They kinda helped win the war by keeping the nation and it's troops fed.
- They did it a second time, too.
That's a lot of Asian faces (39%) for these leopard to eat.

Wouldn't be surprised if they try to strip Asian American citizens, naturalized or natural born, of their citizenship either.
- IANAL, but for natural born the only realistic scenario with the current legal setup is accusing them of treason and finding them guilty.
  
  https://www.usa.gov/renounce-lose-citizenship
  
  Key word being current. Remember that Republicans will control all three branches of government, including both houses of Congress.
  
  Of course that assumes they follow the law at all.
  
  Project 2025 includes doing away with naturalization, and I believe might even go as far as revoking citizenship from previously naturalized citizens (only when it suits them, of course).
  
  Isn't it against international law to make someone stateless?
  
  (Granted, it's not like they'd care about legality)
- I've figured it out! This is all a program to save the endangered Amur leopard!
  
  They're going to ship them back to Asia as leopard food!
- I don't appreciate my face getting eaten when I voted Harris. 😖
  
  Yeah it does suck but unfortunately that's what Americans voted for.
  
  I'm not exactly looking forward to more racism and more being the perpetual foreigner but c'est la vie, it's what idiot America voted for.
- Jesus Christ, every thread about deportations has some moron talking about leopards.
  
  Undocumented immigrants can't vote. I hate to take away whatever satisfaction you're getting from human suffering here, but it is categorically not "leopards eating faces".
  
  Is that 39% the percentage of Asian Americans who voted for Trump? I bet most of those are rich enough that they don't have to worry. What percentage of your demographic voted Republican? Do you deserve to be punished for them?
  
  The world isn't just and these people aren't getting what they deserve. Put this energy into volunteering for organizations trying to help people. We have to stick together to get through the next four years.
What a convenient pretext to round up Beijing's wishlist of exiles.
- Orange Man baths in social credits.
"It's not the Greeks, it's the Chinese he's after"
potential risk to national security

Pot, meet kettle.
- Pot, meet industrial boiler.
  
  FTFY
For the white folk like my family that are out there wondering why so many people are afraid: here it is.

You don't have to be an illegal immigrant to get caught up in this. If you're an American citizen who is arrested and thrown in a camp without access to communications or legal counsel, how can you prove you're a citizen? You'll end up being in line at a deportation hearing, get 30 seconds in front of a judge, and find yourself deported because you didn't have the correct documentation on your body.

Or if you did and the immigration gestapo "lost" it.

I'm so white that even sunburnt I still look like a ghost, so I'm safe. But that shouldn't be what protects me from illegal deportation.
- I'm so white that even sunburnt I still look like a ghost, so I'm safe. But that shouldn't be what protects me from illegal deportation.
  
  I got sunburnt taking out the trash so I'm in the same boat as you.
Ok, so now if you are Asian in addition to being even vaguely brown, you will at all times need to carry papers showing you are authorized to be here. You will be subject to being stopped and questioned and should you fail to produce your papers you may be detained, possibly for quite some time, until YOU can prove you are authorized to be here. Even if you are here legally your status may be revoked and you will be ejected from the country, probably at your own expense. No doubt in that case anything you own here in the US will be confiscated.
- No doubt in that case anything you own here in the US will be confiscated.
  
  Thanks to asset forfeiture, those objects are guilty in the furtherance of a crime and will have to defend themselves in court.
First they came for...
i always knew chin yang was a terrorist
"Wait... He wants to deport US? Not just them!"
That makes sense. Asians don't even seem to be in conversation on racial issues. I could see them slipping this under the radar.
That sucks, it sounds like it is going to be hard to find a good rub-n-tug after January.
As much as I despise the policy of mass deportation (collective punishment is morally repugnant), at least this has a plausible reason behind it instead of “they’re eating our pets”.
- Yeah, like the Japanese internment camps during WWII. Totally plausible. A shining moment in our national history, widely recognized by all as a terrific decision.
  
  _/s
  
  I’m sure whatever garbage Clarence Thomas vomited up for the Korematsu dissent is terrible and he’ll find another way to bring it up
- That is in no way a positive or even worth mentioning.
- Please, go on. I would love to hear more about your defense of concentration camps.
  
  I said I do not agree with collective punishment. In no way should a Chinese person be deported or put in a camp because a different Chinese person was engaged in espionage. Only people found guilty of espionage should be deported, period.
  
  What I’m saying is that Chinese espionage is based in reality, unlike the claim that Haitian immigrants were eating pets.
- 🤨

164 comments