as a transition team at trump tower began planning for the administration of president-elect donald j. trump , another group was at the port richmond high school library on staten island on monday night, strategizing its own future come january. more than 100 people attended an emergency meeting there for spanish-speaking immigrants. many of them were undocumented: mexican parents and their united states-born children; business owners; day laborers; transgender residents. they happen to live in the only borough in new york carried by mr. trump. <u+201c>we need to hope for the best but prepare for the worst,<u+201d> said cesar vargas , a mexican-born staten island lawyer and immigrant activist who was one of the organizers. he spoke in spanish and english to the crowd gathered in port richmond, a working-class neighborhood on the north shore of staten island. <u+201c>under the new president-elect, we don<u+2019>t know what is going to happen,<u+201d> mr. vargas said. <u+201c>but we have to have a plan.<u+201d> he then handed out one part of the plan. it was an eight-page emergency work sheet to be prepared in case someone in a household was detained by immigration officers: contacts for lawyers, pastors, relatives in and outside the country; homes that would take in children; places to have furniture donated; and any visa or previous deportation records. of course, mr. vargas warned, be sure to hide the form. though mr. trump, a republican, seemed to soften some of his campaign positions about undocumented immigrants in an interview broadcast on sunday on the cbs program <u+201c>60 minutes,<u+201d> he also vowed to start deporting more than two million immigrants with criminal records as soon as he took office. that promise was met with resistance from the highest levels of new york government, which is solidly democratic. mayor bill de blasio reiterated the city<u+2019>s commitment to undocumented residents, saying, <u+201c>we are not going to sacrifice a half-million people who live amongst us who are part of our communities.<u+201d> days after the election, gov. andrew m. cuomo said, <u+201c>if any immigrant feels that they are under attack, i want them to know that the state of new york <u+2014> the state that has the statue of liberty in its harbor <u+2014> is their refuge.<u+201d> mr. cuomo announced on tuesday that a hotline had been established to report complaints of bias or discrimination. questions of privacy and data were at the forefront of immigrants<u+2019> concerns on monday night. some worried that idnyc , the city program that provides government-issued id cards to residents, could be turned against the undocumented. nisha agarwal, the commissioner of the mayor<u+2019>s office of immigrant affairs , encouraged people to continue to sign up for the free identification cards, and assured them that the city made confidentiality a priority. the city is considering expunging id-holders<u+2019> contact information from its records, as was allowed in the 2014 law that established the program. <u+201c>a determination regarding record retention will be made by the end of the calendar year,<u+201d> rosemary boeglin, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said. mr. vargas advised the group in port richmond to avoid filing new applications for temporary work permits under the administrative program known as deferred action for childhood arrivals, for fear of providing personal data to the new administration. but he said that those whose permits were up for renewal should apply. mr. vargas, one of the first lawyers admitted to the new york state bar with a deferred action authorization, applied for renewal of his work permit on tuesday. immigrant organizations across the city have begun coordinating a response to whatever immigration policies the new administration may adopt. <u+201c>we have two months to do this,<u+201d> said gonzalo mercado, the executive director of la colmena, a job center in port richmond, which organized monday<u+2019>s meeting. mr. mercado, the new york coordinator for the national day laborer organizing network, said that his workers often stood on corners waiting for jobs and that in the wake of the election there had been some incidents. <u+201c>people have been throwing things, splashing water at them, yelling out of the window things like, <u+2018>go back to mexico,<u+2019><u+201d> he said. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re worried that it<u+2019>s going to embolden. our organizers go out there every day to make sure that somebody is with them.<u+201d> mr. mercado said la colmena was also organizing neighborhood protection groups. alejandra moran, 43, a transgender woman from mexico who is undocumented, joined the six-person steering committee that will start training people in december. she has had a hair salon, cortes y estilos, since 2002, and recently started staten island<u+2019>s first transgender support group. twelve people have joined thus far. her biggest fear now? <u+201c>being sent back to mexico,<u+201d> ms. moran said through a translator. transgender people there have been subjected to increased harassment and violence, she said. in contrast, she said, she has always felt accepted on staten island. ms. moran<u+2019>s salon on port richmond avenue has been a sanctuary for spanish-speaking immigrants, a place people visit to trade gossip and socialize. but in the past, said her friend martha rosas, 50, immigrants in the area were divided along regional mexican lines. <u+201c>we need unity because in one moment, everything changed,<u+201d> she said. now more than ever, she said, it is important for people to stand up for themselves. <u+201c>get out from where you are hiding,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>i see people stay in the back, in the closet.<u+201d> mr. vargas was encouraged by the promises of new york officials, but as with mr. trump<u+2019>s plans, the proof was yet to come. <u+201c>this is the place, here on staten island, where we will see whether the city and the state really have our backs,<u+201d> he said. a version of this article appears in print on november 16, 2016, on page a24 of the new york edition with the headline: staten island<u+2019>s latino immigrants <u+2018>hope for the best but prepare for the worst<u+2019>. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
on staten island, immigrants <u+2018>hope for the best but prepare for the worst<u+2019>
liz robbins