How Immigrant Groups Are Bracing for Trump

Nov 20, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump has his plans to declare a national emergency on immigration and rely on the United States military to deport millions of immigrants.聽

Anti-immigrant racism was the central pillar of Trump鈥檚 re-election campaign, and his first term was marked by the of thousands of immigrant children being separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. Immigrant rights organizations are bracing for worse during his second term.聽

Adela de la Torre, deputy director at spoke with 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on 大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about her organization鈥檚 approach to counter Trump鈥檚 plans.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.