Donald Trump’s signature policy during the campaign and over the past decade has been what many North Bay residents consider an extreme stance on immigration. Trump and his most ardent supporters have repeatedly called for “mass deportations” targeting millions of people who have lived and worked in the United States for years, even decades.

Now, as the president-elect prepares to return to the Oval Office in January, immigrant advocates are scrambling to strengthen the community’s legal defenses and resources in preparation for what could be a second Trump presidency .

Officials with Sonoma County Legal Aid said they were preparing for possible cuts to legal services and new federal policies targeting many of the vulnerable clients they serve.

Ronit Rubinoff, the nonprofit’s longtime executive director who resigned from her post in September and now serves as director emeritus, said Trump had “sighted the bullseye on legal aid” in During his first term, threatening to cut federal funding for legal services and justice work.

Rubinoff estimates that about 30 percent of the organization’s funding for domestic violence prevention, veterans services and housing programs comes from the federal government. Cuts to any of those programs are particularly concerning as the state faces a funding gap, she said.

“We are looking at a dark tunnel,” she said.

Guides to the advanced futurea nonprofit organization that helps Latino immigrant and refugee families, devoted airtime on KBBF radio Thursday to a segment on the results of the presidential election and expected results. changes to the DACA program, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

“If you are undocumented, remember that politicians come and go but our success depends on everyone helping at the local level” the organization said on social networks.

The nonprofit advised Dreamers — people who were children when they were brought to the United States and who have lived under a patchwork of federal reprieves since Barack Obama’s presidency — to reapply now, during the final weeks of the Biden administration.

“DACA recipients with six months remaining on their permits should renew now,” the group said.

Sunny Noh, Acting Executive Director of Legal Aid, said it will be critical for community partners to come together to ensure services remain accessible and community members feel comfortable seeking services, regardless of their immigration status.

Legal Aid and its partners will look for opportunities to scale up their programs in response to policy changes at the federal level, Noh said, although it was too early to say what that might look like.

During Trump’s first term, for example, Legal Aid had a guardianship program that helped immigrant families develop a safety plan for their minor dependents if their parents were detained or deported. Similar programs could be revived.

“I think everyone right now is still in shock,” Noh said. “We want to give people the opportunity to process this and as soon as we can get our bearings, we’ll start strategizing and get to work.”

David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University, noted that large-scale deportation of undocumented immigrants would be devastating to the local economy, particularly the agriculture and wine industry. local.

Matt Heath, president of Sonoma County Republican Party president, said the reaction to Trump’s promise to carry out mass deportations is overblown. He said that when Trump talked about deporting immigrants, he was referring to “criminals.”

“I don’t believe our employers, our wonderful farmers, our agricultural community and our construction companies here in Sonoma County hire criminals,” he said. “When we talk about criminals, we are not referring to the crime of entering this country. country illegally.

He added that Trump was referring to crimes committed by immigrants in their own countries and on the way to the border, as well as those they commit after crossing the border.

Doris Gentry, President of the Napa County Republican Central Committeesaid she doesn’t believe local vineyards and wineries employ undocumented workers. She said Trump’s plan to deport undocumented individuals would have little local impact.

“I know we use seasonal workers on a lot of our farms, but even there we use legal workers. So it won’t have any effect on Napa,” she said. “I don’t see Napa losing workers over the issue of mass deportations. And there are so many people looking for work that I don’t think it would be a problem if we lost workers.”