By Kelsey Kennedy, KOAA News 5
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is speaking out against Donald Trump’s immigration plan to deport millions who are in this country illegally when he takes office in January. The governor says many in that community are fearful about their future.
News5 spoke with people in Colorado Springs who are here legally, but worry that others might not have the same opportunities that they were given in America.
Noor Phillips worked alongside the U.S. military as a linguist in Iraq. She is here in America on a special immigrant visa, but she says she’s considering leaving voluntarily.
“Right now if you ask me what I want to do in the near future, I would say I would love to find a job back in the middle east until these four years are over with,” she said. “I honestly felt safe living among the war than being here right now. We’re nervous all the time.”
She says she felt a shift in the way she’s treated here during election season because she is a Muslim. She’s worried President Elect Trump might change laws before her citizenship is final. “Am I ever going to be just a normal American citizen that has the same rights as anyone else?” she wonders.
Jeannnett Simba. came to the United States at the age of 19 from Rwanda. She’s now an American citizen but understands Noor’s concerns. “The newcomers are worried because they don’t have the papers yet,” she said. “They only have the beginning paper, so the next thing they go to apply for hopefully they don’t have a hard time.”
Governor Hickenlooper says he supports securing the border and making sure that everyone has the right documentation. He doesn’t want anyone to be fearful of being deported.
“There will not be any deportation force coming into the state of Colorado,” Hickenlooper said. “We should give the President elect some time to sort through what things he really meant when he was campaigning and what things were maybe hyperbole.”
Simba still believes the American dream is for everyone “For me who has been here 18 years, when I see them come, I welcome them to let them know there’s no fear here,” she said. “I made it. You guys can make it too.”
