Mark Curnutte

mcurnutte@enquirer.com

Unable to get immigration law changes through Congress, President Barack Obama signed several executive orders during his second term that protected undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Those orders will be undone by Donald Trump when he takes office, one of several anti-immigrant and immigration moves the president-elect has promised to make.

How things are now: Obama's administration deported a record 2.5 million undocumented immigrants from 2009 through 2015, even as his executive order in 2012 sought to protect young immigrants brought illegally into the United States as children. It is known as DACA, short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The Department of Homeland Security in 2014 established enforcement priorities that focused on criminals and those who posed "a threat to national security, public safety and border security." Immigrant advocates said otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants could live in relative security in the final three years of the Obama presidency.

What Trump said he'll do: He would like to immediately deport 2 to 3 million of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. His focus would be on people with criminal records. Then he said he would decide later on what to do about families living here illegally.

About 690,000 undocumented immigrations have been convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanor. Trump recently sent a mixed message about DACA recipients, striking a more conciliatory tone that "something" might need to be done about their plight. These young immigrants played by the rules and registered with the federal government in order to receive work permits and driver's licenses.

Trump also said he will have Congress appropriate money to pay for construction of an "impenetrable wall" on the U.S. southern border and get Mexico to pay for it later. Trump also said he would "suspend immigration from regions that export terrorism," targeting migration of Muslims into the United States.

What's likely: Advocates are concerned that Trump will redefine "criminal" to include driving without a license. Once detained, even for minor traffic violations, undocumented immigrants may be likely to find themselves placed into the deportation system with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Expect to see increased removal activity from ICE as a show of force Trump will make to satisfy his political base. He is expected to abandon deportation priorities established by the Obama Administration.

What it means for Ohio: The state, though not as immigrant populous as border states and California, is home to hundreds of thousands of Latinos, Muslims and Africans, particularly refugees from Western African nations of Senegal and Mauritania.

An estimated 50,000 Somali refugees live in the Columbus area. President Trump will have the power to severely limit the number of refugees – those fleeing war or persecution – allowed to enter the United States. Obama raised the quota of refugees allowed to enter the country from 70,000 early in his presidency to 110,000 in 2017. Refugees from Syria are the most problematic in Trump's world view.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has a station at Sandusky Bay, and some immigration experts foresee increased enforcement and removal efforts along the Ohio Turnpike. Under the leadership of the president-elect and Jeffrey Sessions, the Republican senator from Alabama and Trump's nominee to be U.S. Attorney General, the new administration is expected to take an overall harder line on undocumented immigrants. If confirmed, Sessions would determine resources given to immigration courts and influence how local law enforcement agencies participate in deportation efforts.