Illegal Alien Parents Prepare Families for the Worst

At the Los Angeles Times, "Fearful parents sign papers for friends to care for kids in case they're deported":

She saw the news of the raids happening around the country and felt helpless. Scared. She had lived here for more than a decade, following her father’s advice: Work hard and stay out of trouble.

But suddenly it felt as though trouble was looking for her. Lorena Napola worried about her four children. What if she were hauled away? Who would make sure they got to school? To doctors’ appointments? To church?

The questions weighed on her in recent weeks. She saw on the news a mother in Arizona get picked up by federal agents for deportation. Napola thought the woman seemed normal. Unassuming. She was without papers. Like her.

Napola’s friends spoke of rumors: Dark trucks filled with people in dark uniforms raiding nearby neighborhoods. She knew President Trump campaigned to crack down on illegal immigration and now he appeared to be a man of his word.

So she went to see Andres Paredes, a leader at her local Mormon church. Three of her children are U.S. citizens, she told him. Would he care for them if la migra came and she were deported?

Paredes, a quiet man who came to the United States from Peru decades ago, drew up power of attorney papers that gave him authority to make school, medical and other decisions for her children in case she and her husband were deported. Napola felt relief that her kids would be cared for and sadness that it had come to this.

“They are my life,” she said. “They are everything.”

As the papers were signed, Paredes said, his heart broke. He has signed power of attorney with two families.

“It’s a big responsibility,” he said softly. “I’m not sure it’s entirely sunk in yet.”

The fear among immigrants in the United States illegally has reached such a pitch that some have altered their lifestyles, won't answer the door if someone knocks and pay close attention to reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions on social media and the news...

Still more.

RELATED: "Illegal Border Crossings Appear to Drop Under Trump."

Amazing what some seriousness of purpose on immigration can accomplish. It's almost like we're enforcing our laws!