By GABRIEL SANDOVAL

PHOENIX (AP) — Jocelyn Ruiz remembers her fifth-grade teacher warning the class of large-scale attacks patrols to target immigrants In Arizona’s largest metropolitan area. She asked her mother about this and revealed a family secret.

Ruiz’s mother entered the United States illegally and left Mexico a decade ago in search of a better life.

Ruiz, who was born in California and grew up in the Phoenix area, was worried that her mother could be deported at any time, even though she had no criminal history at the time. Ruiz, his two younger siblings, and their parents held out quietly and never discussed their mixed immigration status. He said they lived “like Americans.”

According to the report, more than 22 million people live in a home in the United States where at least one person is in the country without permission. Pew Research Center analysis 2022 Census data. That represents about 5 percent of households in the U.S. and 5.5 percent of households in Arizona, a battleground state where the Latino vote could be important.

If Donald Trump is elected and keeps his campaign promise The largest deportation operation in American historyNot only can it disrupt the lives of the 11 million people living in the United States without permission, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but it can also harm the U.S. citizens in their families.

immigration issue It has been a cornerstone of Trump’s platform since he vowed to “build a great wall” when announcing his first Republican presidential campaign in 2015. And yet survey showing this While the economy is voters’ top concern, Trump remains focused on the issue, criticizing the Biden administration’s treatment of the southern border as an existential threat to American society as Election Day approaches.

Trump’s pressure plan It encouraged some mixed-status families to speak out. They argue that America’s success depends on the contributions of immigrants and that people who do this work deserve a path to legal residence or citizenship.

Others choose to remain silent, hoping to escape attention.

And there are those who support Trump, even though they themselves could become targets of deportation.