Migrants stay home as people live in fear of Trump’s mass deportation threats

“You see on the news all the time undocumented, illegal, and you realise that’s you.

“There’s fear. It’s in your head, it’s stuck with you. Even when you get out there and you find someone staring at you, you’re concerned. Who are they? Did someone tell on me?”

Franklin is not his real name and he’s asked us to keep his identity secret. He is an African migrant fleeing political persecution in a country he doesn’t want us to name.

The abundance of caution shows how terrified he is that he might jeopardise his asylum application in this new Trump era by speaking with the media, but he wants his words to count.

“Maybe it will help, maybe it will help others”, he says. “They’ll know they’re not alone.”

President Trump has promised the biggest deportation in US history, with his new border czar, Tom Homan, saying he’ll target “the worst, first”.

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Franklin has not committed a crime, violent or otherwise. He should not have to worry. But he does.

“If you’re going door to door home by home, restaurant by restaurant, how are you discerning who is a hardened criminal and who’s not?”, asks Anuj Gupta, who runs The Welcoming Centre in Philadelphia, an NGO focused on economic growth through immigrant integration.

“So there is the fear of getting swept up in that, irrespective of what your status is. That chilling effect is more impactful than whatever their potential policy or operationalisation of it may be. It also dampens everyone’s willingness to participate in day to day life.”

Africatown in South West Philadelphia is a hub for the African diaspora, some of whom have lived here for decades, many of whom are more recent arrivals.

It wears its heritage proudly, via colourful street murals and African flags along the main Woodland avenue which houses a cluster of shops and small businesses.

A new $23m (£18.56m) community centre, the Africa Centre is due to be completed next April. It is a case study in thriving immigrant entrepreneurship.

“A lot of people are scared right now to come out because of Trump’s threats, a lot of people who don’t have documents,” says Sullay, to explain the relatively empty streets.

It could be the chilling effect of potential ICE raids, the widely known acronym for federal immigration and customs enforcement. It could be the bitter cold, minus 12 in Philly on Thursday.

Amadou – not his real name – from Guinea is confident his asylum claim is in the works. He believes in the system. He proudly shows off his application on the Biden-era app which was supposed to provide a legal pathway to asylum, and the hearing he has scheduled for later in the year.

“I like Donald Trump,” Amadou says. “I think he is a good president. If he says America First, maybe that’s good.

“If my president said Guinea First, that would be good too. Maybe I would stay there.”