As fear of US ouster forces migrants to go underground, WhatsApp comes as help

Trump administration has not exempt sensitive locations like the schools, hospitals and religious places from enforcement action by immigration agents

An estimated 14 million undocumented migrants in the United States, lurking in fear of deportation, are resorting to desperate measures to avoid the gaze of immigration agents allegedly scouting neighbourhoods to look for “illegals”.

A migrant is interviewed during a press visit at the Temporary Care Center for Migrants (Catem) in Puntarenas, Costa Rica on March 31, 2025. Costa Rica is one of three Central American countries, along with Panama and Guatemala, that have agreed to receive migrants from other countries and to detain them until they are sent to their home nations or other host countries. (Representative image)(AFP)

Residents and immigrant rights advocacy groups told news agency AFP that the fear of deportation, have prompted undocumented migrants to go underground and pull out their children from schools to avoid detection.

WhatsApp helps Illegal immigrants

Many have also formed online communities on messaging apps like WhatsApp to stay informed of enforcement actions around their communities, the AFP report said.

Rosario (name changed), a 35-year-old mother of two, entered the United States in 2021 after an arduous journey. She has been living underground in her Washington home and anxiously scrolls through community groups to keep informed of real-time updates, often unverified or false information.

“You stay informed and stay a little more alert thanks to the group. That way, you get rid of fear a little bit -- but fear always persists,” she said while looking through her window blinds for any lurking agents from ICE -- the Immigration and Customs Enforcement department.

Rosario is unable to verify the information but remains confident that the group, helped by other immigrants and advocates, provided reliable information that helped her decide on daily activities to avoid potential detection.

Despite a rise in raids and arrests, the number of deportation flights since Trump took office on January 20 has been roughly the same as those in the final months of President Joe Biden's administration, AFP reported. But communities are shocked by the Trump administration's rhetoric and tactic to publicise raids and widely share videos of deportees being shackled on military flights.

A director of an immigration advocacy group in Washington echoed a similar argument, “In the current scary climate, it is hard to know what's true, what's inaccurate. (Its hard to) decipher fact from fiction,” he said, requesting anonymity.

Last month an online video of claiming arrest by immigration agents was found to have been staged by AFP during its fact checking. Another video of an undocumented Colombian woman being expelled was also found to be a fictionalized clip posted in 2023 by an American YouTuber.

Fear is also amplified by the Trump administration's decision not to exempt sensitive locations like the schools, hospitals and religious places from enforcement action by immigration agents. Messages of raids on such places keep undocumented migrants on the edge.