On Being a Denver Immigration Lawyer Just Before Trump Takes Office

The Atlantic published a great article titled “What It’s Like to Be an Immigration Attorney in the Final Weeks Before the Trump Presidency“.  People are scared and do not know what to expect, which is the most rationale reaction to a new President who specializes in anti-immigration rhetoric, but at the same time is capable of contradicting himself within the same sentence. Some highlights of the article include:

• How the fear and uncertainty of millions of workers—from undocumented immigrants and DACA recipients to high-skilled laborers from countries outside the U.S.—could translate into a negative impact on the economy.
• An increase in anxiety that’s causing many to look to immigration lawyers for reassurance in addition to legal advice and immigration services.
• How Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric is worrisome and especially incendiary, even in a climate that hasn’t been all that immigrant-friendly. The author amplifies this notion by pointing out that more folks have been deported under President Obama than under all presidents of the 20th century combined.
• How the U.S. legal system instills fears in immigrants—even those who really are at very little risk of deportation—and perhaps is so by design, as one highly experienced immigration attorney in New York expressed.
• The potential for U.S. companies to start “willfully alienating foreign workers” because they think the current protections within our immigration system could get nixed. And perhaps some damage has already been done. I’d like to think, as a country, we’d see Trump’s rhetoric as an empty threat, and we’d continue to create jobs and hire intelligent, highly skilled foreign workers. But that might not be the reality.
• How there’s a “perceived loss of an ally on the federal level” and how families with undocumented members are taking precautions that, perhaps under someone other than Trump, might not have taken.

My advice to clients thus far has been that if you are eligible for an immigration benefit now, and you have confirmed your eligibility and discussed the risks with an attorney, you should file for this benefit. The environment is not going to improve under Trump, so better to have current USCIS officers review your application rather than officers hired by Trump. The environment will certainly become tougher as DHS focuses even more on enforcement and less on benefits. For those who are facing deportation, especially those who have permanent bars or a less-than-clean or criminal background, only time will tell.

What I do know is that, as an immigrant advocate, I’m bracing for an uncertain future, and preparing to fight any new laws and regulations that violate my clients’ rights.