How One American Dad Is Preparing For Deportation

Fatherhood in the time of tyranny

“When my kid was three or for year old, I was walking them to school one day and they asked me, ‘Dad, are you going to be deported?’ And I was like, ‘No, of course not,’” One of my friends, a naturalized citizen, tells me. “They just recently asked me again, and I had to have that conversation with them. Honestly, I don’t know.”

That friend—let’s call him Jim Smith—asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. He’s also not the kind of person who’s going to immediately pop into anyone’s head when you mention deportations. A former professional athlete who now works as a tastemaker, conversations typically go one of two ways when people find out I know him. If that person is a man, it’s typically thinly veiled jealousy. If it’s a woman, it’s usually something about not calling her back. I get the impression that they’re hoping I’ll mention their name to him, man or woman.

“I do the right thing, I have a clean criminal record, I pay more in taxes than the average person earns in a year,” he tells me.

But this year is already shaping up to be different. Purely in terms of finances, 2026 is not exactly looking promising.

“I’ve already turned down two big jobs overseas because of fear of getting caught up at the border,” Jim Smith says. “Even in normal times, I’d say nine times out of ten I go into secondary because they look at my passport and it says right there I was born in a foreign country.”

Jim says that, in addition to foreign travel, he’s also avoiding areas bordering Mexico following an encounter with border patrol agents in Arizona last year, where he was pulled over in his vehicle and detained without explanation.

“I just don’t want to be pulled over, or go through a checkpoint and have to go through that rigmarole,” he explains. “You know what you’re going to get right now. I really feels like there’s no rules, it feels as they don’t like you for any reason they are there to escalate.”

Jim says that wasn’t his experience before. A successful guy and a responsible gun owner with a permit to carry a concealed handgun, he says, “I’ve always had a respect for law enforcement.”

When he’s gotten pulled over in the past, he says he rolls down his window, takes his keys out of the ignition, and puts both his hands on the steering wheel and, until last year’s incident, had never had a bad interaction.

“It’s sad,” he says, “It’s a strange way to move through life right now.”

Smith’s mom moved with him to America when he was a little kid, where he enjoyed an idyllic upbringing, before becoming a pro athlete as a teenager. Smith was a legal resident who became a naturalized citizen as an adult.

“To get my citizenship, I had to study the constitution and take a test,” he says. “I dare say that I probably know more about it than most people that were born here. Now, I see what’s happening with ICE, and the lack of regard for our constitutional rights, and it’s absolutely mind-blowing. It makes me afraid to speak out. It’s just a bizarre feeling to be a naturalized citizen right now.”

Interjecting with something personal, I want to add that it also feels weird to interact with friends who are people of color, or who weren’t born in the country right now. I asked Smith what he thought would happen if, during a conversation about public lands for instance, I was to text him something like, “Fuck Ryan Zinke.” (One of Montana’s Republican Congresspersons who’s currently engaged in the act of trying to steal America’s natural heritage.) Does he think that could be a problem if he gets his phone confiscated at a border or elsewhere?

“That’s something I’m worried about,” he says. “That would be on my phone now.”

I also asked Smith if he’d feels safe attending a protest. “Absolutely not,” he says. “100 percent not.”

Smith says that, in addition to turning down international travel, quieting his social media presence, and avoiding both the border and any interactions with law enforcement, that he’s taking other precautions both to prevent deportation, and to prepare for it, should it happen.

In terms of the kid, he says he’s staying in constant contact with their mother, who lives in a different state, and that he’s made sure any question of financial support and custody have been resolved. But, he’s careful to make sure he carries both he and his child’s paper’s any time they’re together. Fortunately his child was born in this country and that’s reflected on their own passport. But still, he worries.

“We don’t want to get throw into a cold cell, get disappeared for 10 days while we get lost in an overworked system,” he says. “So it’s carrying your papers, which is insane to say.”

Smith says he makes sure his family carries their passport booklets anywhere they go, and he also carries his own passport card in addition to that.

“I have a backpack that has photocopies of my naturalization papers, photocopies of all my IDs, all of that,” he says. The kid is old enough to have their mom’s phone number memorized.

“And whenever I deal with law enforcement, it’s obey and comply,” Smith continues. “Even if they’re being raging assholes, it’s obey and comply. I am not going to win that fight, doing so is not worth it to me.”

In addition to those precautions, Smith says he’s also preparing to flee, should that need arrive. He’s moved most of his possessions into a storage unit the kid’s mom has access to, and has begun carrying both large amount of cash, and transferring his investments into physical silver he’s hiding in his vehicle. He’s in contact with family who live abroad, and has a plan in place to reach them absent access to secure communication, or electronic banking.

I asked Smith if he could see himself coming back to America eventually, if he is forced to flee. “I love this country,” he tells me. “It’s incredible, my favorite people are here. I don’t want to leave. It’s frustrating this is even on the table.”

“Not only because of my kid, but I would want to come back,” Smith continues. “But there would have to be a fundamental change in the government for me to do so.”

Top Photo: Bureau of Land Management

A journalist with more than two decades of experience working around the world, Wes Siler is here to cut through the outrage and disinformation to bring you the factual, insightful, actionable reporting you need to understand what’s going on. Upgrading to a paid subscription supports this reporting, and buys personal access to Wes, who will help you save money on gear, and prepare for real life.

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