La Lucha: Fighting for Your Financial Rights in a Deportation
La Lucha: Fighting for Your Financial Rights in a Deportation
“¡Escucha, estamos en la lucha!” chanted protestors against the ICE raids in Los Angeles over the weekend.
CNN reported that thousands of protestors took to the streets to peacefully demonstrate against ICE agents raiding workplaces to deport women, children and men alike.
Many of us are seeing live footage of the protests as they increasingly turned violent with police spraying rubber bullets and deploying tear gas at the protestors. As of this writing, hundreds of National Guard troops have been deployed by the current administration—without authorization from Governor Gavin Newsom—and those soldiers are expected to be joined by hundreds of Marines in the coming days.
Protestors also chanted, “Who’s got the power? We’ve got the power.”
But one of the things I say is that our community is being targeted because while we have spending power, we don’t have the power and wealth to fight injustices like this—yet.
This is a dark and sad time in our community, but I want you to know what you can do right now to protect yourself. ICE has no plans of leaving LA any time soon, and with likely stops in Chicago and Miami next, you need to know what to do to protect yourselves.
Things to Do Right Away
My parents are Mexican immigrants who came to the United States with the dream to have a better life for themselves. They eventually had three kids and I am the oldest.
There are millions of Latino immigrants who come to the United States for a better life, and about 11 million are undocumented. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that those 11 million people paid approximately $100 billion in federal, state and local taxes.
More than a third of the tax dollars they pay go toward programs that they won’t ever be able to access, like Medicare taxes (into which they paid $6.4 billion), unemployment insurance taxes (into which they paid $1.8 billion), and Social Security taxes (into which they paid $1.8 billion).
But if you are living and working in the United States, even if you are undocumented, you likely built up a nest egg, a retirement account, savings or bank accounts, and other assets. And you need to protect those assets right now.
If you, one of your family members, or your loved ones are worried about being deported, there are things that you can do right away to at least protect your assets in the United States:
Get an estate plan. Estate plans aren’t just for the wealthy. They are how we protect our children, our assets, and our legacy. It’s how we build generational wealth and stop being treated as disposable or invisible. There are several options to create estate planning documents, like trusts and wills. At our firm, we use EncorEstate Plans, but you’d need to work with us to develop the plan. You can also put together your plan with Trust&Will, LegalZoom, or Ethos.
Establish a durable power of attorney. You need to appoint somebody to manage your assets in the United States because you won’t be able to do that in another country. You can get one free at Rocket Lawyer or LegalZoom. Once it’s filled out, get it notarized. This allows someone you trust completely to manage your bank accounts, send money home, or handle important decisions if something happens. Without it, your money could be frozen or taken advantage of. This is something that should be done yesterday.
Nomination of a guardian for your minor children. In addition to the durable power of attorney that authorizes somebody to manage your finances, your estate plan will also include a guardian power of attorney for undocumented parents with U.S. citizen children who might remain in the country. You’ll want to name someone who is going to be able to take care of them.
Established an advanced healthcare directive. You want to identify somebody who is going to make medical decisions in case you become incapacitated or you wind up in the hospital after an accident. It’s especially important for your children 18 and older to have an advanced healthcare directive, because if they are in an accident and they are over the age of 18, doctors cannot give you their medical information because of HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which is designed to protect medical records and other personal information.
Get a life insurance policy. You don’t have to be a resident of the United States to get life insurance. And even if you buy it here and go back to another country, your life insurance is still good. But please remember, do not name your minor children as beneficiaries. You need to name a trustee in your estate plan to administer the life insurance proceeds for you.
Please, do not have the mañana syndrome when it comes to this. Get these things done today.
Your Questions Answered
I can’t tell you how many people have reached out to me asking, “Can the government seize my assets if I’m deported?” The answer is no. It’s unconstitutional to seize assets without a court order unless the person has engaged in criminal activity. But keep in mind that in the current climate, it seems like constitutionality and rules are not being followed.
Another question I’m getting is in regards to taxes. If you are in the U.S. and your loved ones get deported to Mexico or Canada, and you send money to them, you can claim them as dependents on your taxes. This is only for residents sending money to citizens of Mexico and Canada, though.
I’m getting flooded with questions like these on what you can do to protect yourselves, so I’m actively attempting to answer as many as I can through videos on my social platforms, including:
For the next few Tuesdays at noon, Pacific, this is the only topic I’ll be addressing on my weekly My Street Money Live show—which streams live across all my platforms. Send in any questions you might have to info@louisbarajas.com and let’s figure this out together.
