Political Rhetoric, Hate Incidents Put Neighbors Link on Guard

Since Donald Trump’s election as president last Tuesday, there have been growing fears what will happen in some minority communities.

It hasn’t only been because of reports of incidents of bigotry across the nation, including racist and anti-Semitic graffiti found Sunday in White Plains, but questions about how the Trump Administration would handle a host of issues.

Since Trump became president-elect, one local organization is taking his campaign pledges of mass deportation of undocumented people seriously.

Neighbors Link in Mount Kisco, which helps to integrate immigrants into the community through a wide variety of programs, including many in the village, last week began conversations with attorneys and other advocacy groups throughout the United States to help understand what might be on the horizon.

Carola Bracco, executive director of Neighbors Link, said in the days following the election, there’s been “a phenomenal need” for people to talk and support each other in the immigrant community and to educate them and their advocates on their rights.

She said that extends far beyond the immigrants, also impacting the organization’s volunteers, donors and staff.

“I think it’s not knowing (what’s going to happen),” Bracco said of the biggest concern. “I think it’s having heard all the negative rhetoric over the past year-plus, the possibility of families being ripped apart, of different groups being put together and stereotyped and of people being deported. By far one of the most significant things we’re hearing are children born in this country who might have an undocumented parent.”

She said there are about four million children who were born in the United States who have an undocumented parent. Having a fear that a parent might be sent out of the country can affect a child’s ability to learn and who to trust, Bracco said.

A recurring question is how much of President-elect Trump’s plan regarding immigrants and deportation will be put into place and what it would take to implement some of the changes, Bracco said.

“All of that uncertainty is frightening and that affects all of us, not just the individuals,” Bracco said. “We all know people who have this potential risk now and the uncertainty of it is traumatizing.”

So are the threats of bigotry. On Sunday, graffiti that included a swastika and the words “White Power” were scrawled on the Bronx River bike path in White Plains. On Monday afternoon, County Executive Rob Astorino denounced the actions and vowed that the perpetrator, regardless of age or motivation, will be fully prosecuted.

“It was hateful, it was vile, it was disgusting and unfortunately it is this climate of politics, the way it has become after the election, there was a political part of it, too,” Astorino said.

As the fourth most diverse county in the state, Astorino said the county will never tolerate the bigotry it discovered on Sunday.

He said last week’s 90-minute meeting at the White House between Trump and President Obama and the president-elect’s clear message on Sunday’s “60 Minutes” episode to any supporters to halt hateful actions is a good start.

The county executive also called on Obama and Hillary Clinton to also publicly call for calm.

On “60 Minutes” Trump also called for the deportation of as many as two to three million undocumented immigrants. That conversation places a strain on many families.

Bracco said that strain is being felt on older children, including those who are the first in their families to attend or graduate from college. In many cases, those children are pursuing higher education and holding down jobs to help their families make ends meet.

“They have achieved success and it feels like to them getting the rug pulled out from under them,” Bracco said. “It’s shattering their world.”