A Jamaican-born psychotherapist in New York has warned that President Donald J. Trump’s mass deportation agenda is causing “a lot of anxiety” in the Caribbean and other immigrant communities.
“The impact of the new immigration law by the 47th President, Donald J. Trump, has caused a lot of anxiety in the immigrant and migrant community,” Vassell G. O’Gilvie, who operates a psychotherapist clinic in Poughkeepsie, a New York City suburb, told Caribbean Life.
“The community is living in fear, which has caused tremendous duress for the family,” he added. “Clients who usually come to the office, even with proper documents, resort to phone calls and telehealth sessions instead of face-to-face.
“Most of these clients have legal rights and documents but may have family members who are not legal, so they become phobic in exercising the freedom of movement,” continued O’Gilvie, stating that, as a clinician, he sees “the fear and desperation in many of his clients who may not know what legal option they have at their disposal.”
He said that if a husband is legally in the country, and his wife and child or children are not this situation “sometimes causes major depression and general anxiety disorder.”
In addition, O’Gilvie said the separation of family, in many instances, can cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has vowed that mass deportations would increase.
Nassau County, Long Is. Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Trump ally, also recently announced that his office will cooperate with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in their deportation initiatives.
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement has created chaos in the manner of how they go about looking or searching for illegal migrants,” O’Gilvie said. “The St. has become a ghost town. We are not talking about criminals, rapists, and drug dealers. We are talking about families who clean our kitchens and restaurants, landscape our yards, and sometimes watch over our children.
“I am perplexed and certainly understand the frustration of the current government wanting to rid the society of lawbreakers who flood our community with drugs and other illegal activities,” he added. “However, I hope they can find a more amicable, caring approach to the broken immigration system.”
In his address to the United States Congress Tuesday night, his first since his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump made no mistake in doubling down on his mass deportation agenda, castigating Democrats for what he regarded as an influx of Caribbean and other immigrants in the country.
“So, while we take out the criminals, killers, traffickers, and child predators who were allowed to enter our country under the open-border policy of these people, the Democrats, the Biden administration — the open border, insane policies that you have allowed to destroy our country — we will now bring in brilliant, hard-working, job-creating people,” he said. “They’re going to pay a lot of money, and we’re going to reduce our debt with that money.”
The president said these immigrant “criminals, killers, traffickers and child predators” are “now officially in the same category as ISIS, and that is not good for them.
“Countless thousands of these terrorists were welcomed into the US by the Biden administration,” he claimed. “But now, every last one will be rounded up and forcibly removed from our country, or if they are too dangerous, put in jails, standing trial in this country because we don’t want them to come back ever.”
Trump disclosed that he has sent to the US Congress “a detailed funding request laying out exactly how we will eliminate these threats to protect our homeland and complete the largest deportation operation in American history, larger even than current record-holder President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a moderate man but someone who believed very strongly in borders.
“Americans expect Congress to send me this funding without delay so I can sign it into law,” he said. “I’ll sign it so fast you won’t even believe it.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) noted that Trump had promised to “decimate American communities by targeting immigrants who are already contributing members of society and blocking new immigrants from coming lawfully to the United States.
“Trump has made clear that he will double down on what he did during his (first) presidency — without regard for the law, decency, or common sense,” it said.
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization representing more than 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, warned that the Trump administration’s Executive Order on national registration would force Caribbean and other immigrants into the shadow.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that most individuals over 14 years old living in the United States without immigration status will need to register with USCIS – if they are not already registered with them – and provide their fingerprints and address.
NYIC said on Tuesday that individuals would need to carry proof of this registration.
It said that not registering or failing to carry proof of registration would be a criminal offense that could lead to detention and deportation.
“At a time when trust in the federal government is plummeting among immigrant communities, the Trump administration is making plans to obtain millions of people’s personal information and requiring them to carry papers,” NYIC’s President and CEO Murad Awawdeh told the Caribbean Life.
“Trump’s registry will create the conditions for mass roundups and racial profiling of both citizens and noncitizens,” he warned. “We want to be clear to community members that are worried about Trump’s registry: as of now, this registry does not exist. This is a developing situation, and we urge people to consult with a trusted legal representative before creating an account with the USCIS or submitting any forms or information.
“The Trump registry is another example of this administration taking unclear actions in hopes of creating fear and uncertainty in our communities,” Awawdeh added. “But if and when this program is unveiled, there will be a heightened threat of criminal prosecution for failure to register or failure to carry evidence of registration, giving Trump another tool for mass deportations and detentions without a pathway to lawful status.
“This will hurt public safety for all of us, as people will be forced further into the shadows and trust for public institutions will erode,” he continued.
USCIS noted that, on Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump issued the Protecting the American People Against Invasion executive order, which directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure that immigrants comply with their duty to register with the government under section 262 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 1302), and ensure that “failure to comply is treated as a civil and criminal enforcement priority.”
USCIS said the INA requires that, with limited exceptions, all immigrants 14 years or older who were not fingerprinted or registered when applying for a US visa and who remain in the United States for 30 days or longer must apply for registration and fingerprinting.
Similarly, USCIS said parents and guardians must ensure their children below 14 are registered.
“Within 30 days of reaching his or her 14th birthday, the previously registered alien (immigrant) child must apply for re-registration and to be fingerprinted,” USCIS said.
It said that once an immigrant has registered and appeared for fingerprinting (unless waived), USCIS said DHS will issue evidence of registration, which immigrants over 18 must carry and keep in their possession at all times.
“It is the legal obligation of all unregistered aliens (or previously registered children who turn 14 years old) in the United States to comply with these requirements,” USCIS said. “Failure to comply will result in criminal and civil penalties, up to and including misdemeanor prosecution and the payment of fines.”
USCIS said that while most immigrants in the United States have already registered, as required by law, “a significant number of aliens present in the United States have had no direct way in which to register and meet their obligation under INA 262.”
USCIS is establishing a new registration form and process so that unregistered immigrants may comply with their duty under INA 262.
“No alien will have an excuse for failure to comply with this law,” it said. “Registration is not an immigration status, and registration documentation does not establish employment authorization or any other right or benefit under the INA or any other US law.”
