Illegal Immigrant Says He’ll Still Support Trump Even If He’s Deported

An undocumented immigrant in Texas said he stands by his support for President-elect Donald Trump, even if that means he is deported under tougher immigration policies.

Gelacio Velazquez, who came to the U.S. from Mexico, told CNN he supported Trump “for the economy,” despite his discomfort with the Republican’s plans for mass deportations during his second term in the White House.

Velazquez, a mechanic, has been in the United States for 25 years and has two young children who are both U.S. citizens.

“I’m not afraid,” he told CNN’s Rosa Flores, when she asked him if he worried about being deported himself.

Trump repeatedly claimed throughout his election campaign that he would carry out the largest deportation plan in American history, saying at least 11 million illegal immigrants, who he branded as criminals, could be removed.

Immigration advocacy groups have warned that it will not just be those with criminal convictions or charges who will be deported, but those without legal status as well, and that could mean leaving children behind.

Velazquez, whose children are five and nine years old, said he does not support the anti-immigrant rhetoric pushed by the GOP.

“It’s not human,” he said of mass deportations, but added that he has a plan if the policy affects him. “I respect the decision. I leave the country.”

He told Flores he would take his entire family and head back to Mexico if he has to.

Velazquez said he continues supporting Trump because of his economic policies.

When he spoke to Flores in March, Velazquez said President Joe Biden had treated immigrants as if they were ignorant, and that the country was worse off because of his economic policies.

“Democrats are like kind nuns you find on the street, that tell you they are going to help you, but when they have the power to do it, they forget their promises,” he said at the time.

Velazquez’s mixed-status family is not unique. The American Immigration Council estimates that at least 8.7 million U.S. citizens live with at least one undocumented family member, including 4.1 million children who have at least one parent without legal status.

Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, has promised to deport illegal immigrants, and suggested that families could self-deport if they wished.

Immigration experts told Newsweek on Thursday that officials would likely employ scare tactics to get migrants to leave before they needed to be detained.

Despite Trump’s hardline stance on immigration and border security, many Latino men supported him in this election, a crucial shift in the Republican candidate’s direction from a traditionally Democratic voting bloc.

Some commentators and lawmakers have said this was a result of the Democratic Party failing to listen to the concerns of Hispanics across the country, prompting calls for more grassroots work moving forward.