These past few days have been overwhelming for many students with immigrant roots and people of the LGBTQ+ community. Friends and family members of these individuals are also concerned.
Since President Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2025, he has signed executive orders that threaten many groups of people, including social justice protesters, journalists, the Democratic party, and especially immigrants, refugees and people of the LGBTQ+ community.
President Trump signed an executive order titled Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, which declared that only “two sexes, male and female” will be acknowledged by the United States, which could complicate the transitioning processes for transgender and gender non-conforming citizens.
The order goes on to explain that sex will no longer be interchangeable with gender identity and that the terms ‘man’ and ‘boy’ will only address biological males, and the terms ‘woman’ and ‘girl’ will be exclusively used for biological females.
To many, including myself, this order is terrifying. It brings up questions about the ability of transgender citizens to transition, misgendering, and whether we will be able to freely express our gender identities in the next four years.
I personally know of LGBTQ+ adults who have fled to other countries, and in an article by Greg Owen titled LGBTQ+ youth flee hateful states: 266,000 young people have moved to more inclusive states, it is said that hundreds of thousands of trans youth from ages 13-24 have moved to more progressive states in order to escape the constant homophobia and transphobia in their previous homes. Many states, including Michigan, have passed bills that protect legal name and gender changes, surgical changes, and more that support transgender citizens, so many young trans people are moving to those safer states.
Most of us in the LGBTQ+ community are aware of the dangers President Trump and the Republican party bring to us, but this executive order has made these threats a reality.
President Trump has also signed other executive orders restricting immigration, one of which is called Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, which accuses all undocumented immigrants of being threats to the country.
In the order, it states that “many of these aliens unlawfully within the United States present significant threats to national security and public safety,” along with numerous other racist accusations.
This executive order has resurfaced danger for immigrants and refugees that haven’t been this insecure since Trump was put out of office in 2021. This order, along with another three so far, is attempting to address the immigration problem that isn’t as big as President Trump proclaims.
At Loy Norrix, we have several non-white immigration groups of students: Latino, East Asian, Middle Eastern and Arabic, represented in our student population, which means our school will be heavily affected by the executive orders President Trump has signed.
Blatant racism has been an issue in the U.S. since European colonizers landed here in the late 1400s, and it’s not going away anytime soon. Because of white privilege, many people don’t understand how harmful racism is to people of color, and because of systemic racism, people with white privilege often don’t realize or acknowledge the societal benefits it gives them. I’d like to think that everyone with this privilege is trying to understand this, but this is not the case for all.
In Resisting Trump’s Immigration Machine, reporter Lauren Carasik explained that President Trump has used racist concepts to manipulate people into putting him in power. For example, in the 2016 election, President Trump linked immigrants to economic anxiety, which mongered fear in many voters. This fear has led to deporting parents, leaving children alone in the States, and keeping immigrants detained at the border.
I am not a direct victim of this racism, given my family is from Puerto Rico, an American territory, and I look very white, but I went to El Sol Elementary School, and I grew up around children and grandchildren of immigrants. These executive orders are not affecting me directly, nor many other students at Norrix, but if President Trump’s orders are confirmed and put into action, a large population of students will be largely affected.
In all this uncertainty, there is one glimmer of hope I have if we work together. Based on the threats President Trump has given, I believe all these executive orders he has signed are intended to make minority groups disappear. His goal is to scare us so much that we go into hiding, but this plan isn’t foolproof.
We can’t conform to all his wishes, and we should show defiance. People of different ancestry can wear their culture’s traditional clothing in public, or if you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, incorporate your pride flag into your outfit. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s safe to post or repost political stances on social media because it could put friends and family in danger. Since TikTok, Meta, and X whose owners are now showing support for Trump and his policies, finding alternative ways to protest safely will have to be our only political outlet for now.
If we stand out from the typical cis-straight-white American, we make a difference. Someone might see you, and do the same, and so on.
This is the best way to protest President Trump’s decisions: don’t disappear.
