NEW YORK: About 30 New York City residents are offering their help and in some cases even their homes to dozens of Latino immigrants living in the country illegally.

Many say that if immigrants are detained or deported, they would be willing to take in their children.

The effort is emerging in Staten Island, the city's most conservative borough and the only one that went for Donald Trump in the presidential election.

Residents stepped forward soon after the election and asked an immigrant support group how they could help.

Over the past few weeks, the groups of citizens and immigrants have been getting together to make dinners, teach each other a little English and Spanish, and exchange phone numbers for day they hope never comes.