Lawyers receive an avalanche of migrants concerned by Trump’s promises

Well-known immigration lawyer Willy Allen received a visit from a concerned Nicaraguan woman in his Miami office last week. More than concerned, she was scared. Ever since she crossed the border in 2007, the woman has remained in the United States “without any kind of documentation” of her immigration status. She was struck by the fear that is currently being experienced by millions of similarly undocumented immigrants who have begun to imagine all kinds of possible futures: authorities banging on the door of their homes and taking them away; ICE agents arriving at workplaces; finding oneself suddenly placed on an airplane full of deportees. The woman wanted to know if she had any chance of escaping these possibilities.

It wasn’t what Allen wanted to tell her, but it was what he had to tell her: there was probably nothing she could do at this point. “What chance does she have? None,” he says. “I explained to her that right now, she couldn’t regularize her status. She has a 15-year-old son, but even that is no guarantee.”

Among the woman’s many fears, that was the greatest: that her younger son, who had been born in the United States, would be deported or that she would have to leave him on his own. No one really knows how president-elect Donald Trump will carry out the campaign promises that helped win him the White House, but he has said quite plainly that he will not hesitate to deport mixed-status families. In other words, the so-called “largest deportation in history” might not impact 11 million migrants, the official tally of those currently in the country, but many, many more individuals. “I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back,” the Republican said in a recent interview on Meet the Press, his first since the election.

The constant stream of threats Trump has unabashedly lobbed at the country’s undocumented immigrants, Project 2025′s promise to end illegal immigration, and the statements and backgrounds of the team he has appointed to oversee immigration during his term have instilled fear among immigrant communities. Law firms and non-profit organizations that provide legal assistance to immigrants have already begun to note, through increased office visits and emails, the anxiety with which so many families are living today.

Lawyers have reported an increase in the number of people who are making appointments to get questions answered and to find out if they have time to take action in order to stay in the United States. “There is a large group of people who have come to see me, who have been here a long time, who have never had any kind of documentation, who have never turned themselves into officials, and who have lived in the gray area of the community. They are worried that they are going to look for them, about what is going to happen,” says Allen.

A similar situation has been noted by Estuardo Cifuentes, project manager at Proyecto Corazón, which offers legal advice to immigrants. “After the elections, we began to see an increase in the number of consultations we were receiving through our Whatsapp number and Facebook page. Before, we were getting between 30 to 40 daily messages. Now we are receiving 150 messages a day,” Cifuentes says.

The questions that arrive every day via those hundreds of messages and visits from migrants in legal offices are varied. Cifuentes says that the biggest concerns among those who have approached him are related to the situation at the border, asylum requests, and work permits, subjects to which his organization has always attended. “But now, we’re beginning to get questions that we haven’t dealt with before, like about the DACA program, people with pending deportation orders, and people who are completely undocumented and are looking for some kind of option,” he says. “People are in a bigger hurry. Those who wanted to seek asylum, but had a long-term plan to do so, are now getting it done much more quickly. They are trying to accelerate the process to submit their request.”

Most common fear: deportation

Allen has no doubts that migrant families are facing a diversity of challenges. “There are different people with different concerns,” he says. “That’s why the fear is different.”

For example, in the last few days, many have come to him with worries over what is happening at the border and with their family members who are waiting in Mexico for an appointment via the online CBP One progam, which Trump has said he will get rid of once he is in office. On the other hand, a “high quantity” of Venezuelans have come in who have Temporary Protected Status and have applied for asylum, because “they don’t know if they will be granted TPS again, or what will happen to them.” TPS, which Trump has promised to revoke, is currently being applied to some 330,000 people, particularly those from El Salvador (195,000 people), Honduras (57,000 people), and Haiti (50,000 people).

Allen has also noted an influx of Cuban nationals with I-220A or “Order of Provisional Release” status who are currently in court proceedings. “They are afraid that they are in danger, that they could be detained and deported.” The attorney says he has other clients with deportation orders “who are afraid that they are going to start detaining them.”

The idea of deportation is the one that most terrifies migrants and has been, since his first term, high on Trump’s agenda. His vice president-elect, J.D. Vance, and Tom Homan, the next “border czar,” have also clearly stated that during the first year of the Republican administration, they will deport between one and 1.5 million foreigners, starting with those who have criminal records.

William Murillo, director of the legal support non-profit 1800 Migrantes, says that the group has been receiving many people with deportation orders. “They call us with that concern, they don’t know what to do and now it’s very late, because they should have appealed their sentence the same month it was handed down, and that is long gone,” he says. “Many are saying, well, what can I do, what is my option? But for those who have a deportation order, there are few options, unless you can demonstrate that your partner or your children will suffer in an extreme way, and that it is easier to give you residency than to take responsibility for your family.”

The 1800 Migrantes legal team, which has seen its caseload double in recent weeks, calls this state of unrest “the Trump effect.” “It has a lot to do with fear, doubt and above all, the lack of legal certainty,” says Murillo. “We have seen a significant increase in those seeking to get proof for asylum. Because anyone can apply for asylum; the difficult thing is, you have to prove it to the judge. We have seen a 15% to 20% increase in inquiries.”

“We are ready for what comes”

Although no one knows today what will happen starting on January 20, lawyers and organizations that provide support to migrants are preparing for any scenario. Murillo insists on the importance of educating migrants about the possibilities they do, and do not, have. His lawyers recommend establishing power of attorney to guarantee the protection of assets.

“We are recommending that they establish power of attorney, that they leave someone in charge of their things,” he says. “If you have children, a house, bank accounts, and you don’t have a document establishing that someone has power over them, it’s going to be a problem. That is going to be really difficult.”

For his part, Allen has recommended to Nicaraguan and Haitian citizens who are in the country on humanitarian parole that they not delay their political asylum requests. “They should do it starting now, not when it expires,” he says. “Venezuelans who have entered on parole and who have not filed for asylum should consider doing so now. Mexicans, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, and Hondurans who have been here for more than 10 years, right now their options are more limited.”

Among all these groups and different statuses, Allen is least concerned about Cubans who do not have deportation orders and who have not committed crimes. If there is a change in policy, they could apply the so-called Cuban Adjustment Act. He is also confident about the fate of participants in the DACA program, which currently includes 580,000 beneficiaries. Even Trump himself seems less aggressive when it comes to DACA. In his NBC interview, he said that he would work to arrive at an agreement over DACA with the Democrats.

“There is definitely anxiety, fear, and uncertainty regarding what is going to happen,” says Cifuentes. “We have heard many things during the campaign, but we don’t know what is going to happen or how they are going to do it.” In any case, Proyecto Corazón will be prepared to “continue in the line of defense for migrant and asylum-seeker rights,” he says. “We are ready for what comes, to create a rapid response program if needed. If it is a question of the definitive closure of the border, then people have the right to seek asylum. We will also prepare a program to offer legal advice after raids and mass arrests.”

Translation by Caitlin Donohue

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