Where can L.A. immigrants go for help under Trump? Try the public library

Librarian Michelle Soong, left, Ramón Hernández of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and Madeleine Ildefonso, managing librarian for the Office of Civics and Community Services, confer last month at a New Americans Center inside the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. Demand for the public library’s free immigration services has shot up since the return of President Trump, who has attacked immigrants as “ poisoning the blood of our country, ” promised the largest mass deportations in U.S. history and suggested selling $5 million “gold cards” granting rich people permanent residency and a path to citizenship. “We’ve been seeing more folks who are wanting to either get their citizenship finally done or adjust their status to become legal permanent residents — and a lot of them are because of the new administration,” said Hernández, who works for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a nonprofit advocacy organization and one of several service providers the city contracts with under the program. “Everyone right now is looking to have a plan, get their questions answered by talking to a trustworthy immigration services provider, and they need to know their rights,” Madeleine Ildefonso, managing librarian for the L.A. Public Library’s Office of Civics and Community Services. This month, L.A. City Council members proposed new measures to ramp up the city’s resistance to Trump’s immigration policies, including more funding for immigration legal services groups and a comprehensive “know your rights” campaign.