Immigration lawyers: DACA in limbo, raids to define new Trump presidency
By Marivir Montebon
New York – In this season froth with fear for many immigrants, lawyers and civil rights advocates are once again doubling up their response to mounting immigration-related queries. The upcoming Trump presidency ushered the same fright in immigrant communities reminiscent of his 2016 incumbency.
In Levittown, the Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund (FALDEF) and the Long Island Nepalese Society, New York (LINS) held a much-sought immigration forum on November 16, 2024.
Immigration lawyers (r-l): Licelle Cobrador, Shiva Khanal, JT Mallonga, and Robert Rivas, former Mayor of Bergenfield of New Jersey.
A discussion on pathways to citizenship, family-based immigration, rights of the undocumented, DACA, and asylum was put together by immigration lawyer Licelle Cobrador, executive director of FALDEF and Bibek Gautam of LINS for its program on Know Your Rights Series: Know Your Immigrant Rights.
Trump won favorably as seen by many because of his iron-hand promise in handling immigration at the southern borders, among which is to conduct mass deportations.
FALDEF president veteran lawyer J.t. Mallonga first spoke on family-based immigration and the rights of the undocumented.
FALDEF luminaries Rivas and Mallonga
For an opening context, he criticized Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez who earlier told undocumented Filipinos to 'self-deport' in the wake of the planned mass deportation by President-elect Trump. Mallonga emphasized that immigrants, whether on- or off-status have human rights. “We all deserve due process. So, know your rights, don’t act on fear.”
Mallonga was the former national chairperson of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NAFFAA) which is a co-sponsor of the forum.
FALDEF chairperson and the first Filipino American mayor in New Jersey, Bergenfield Mayor Robert Rivas, Esq. encouraged more immigration forums for people to unite and speak up. "I have a feeling, it's just a feeling, that in January, human rights will be assaulted in this country."
Having the phone number of your lawyer on your cellphone is the practical rule the forum speakers told the audience of mostly Nepali origin.
Raids as a matter of prosecutorial discretion
Lawyer Omar Almanzar-Paramio cited that like his predecessors, Trump will use prosecutorial discretion through executive orders to implement his promised mass deportations.
Lawyer Omar Almanzar-Paramio: Trump’s executive orders will be as fast as his tweets, raids will be done.
“Trump could use raids as his prosecutorial discretion. He used this in his past administration. Raids may be done if the ICE, for instance, believes that there is a factory, warehouse, or a building where there are a lot of undocumented immigrants.
“They will send a hundred officers to surround the building and go inside and ask one by one to prove their citizenship. That requires a lot of people, organization, hours, and resources,” said Almanzar-Paramio during the forum.
A career litigator and personal injury and criminal defense attorney, Almanzar-Paramio said that executive orders have been used by chief executives to respond to immigration issues because Congress has never passed immigration reforms since the Immigration and Nationality Act was passed in 1965.
“The House and Senate has never really passed a law and agreed on anything on immigration. And you would think that they do that, so that they could use it to attack each other,” said Almanzar-Paramio. He explained that executive orders are not permanent - and with Trump, they could be as quick as his tweets.
Hope for dreamers?
There is little hope for dreamers, or those under the Deferred Action on Child Arrivals (DACA), said Cobrador, only because renewals are still accepted in the tail-end of the Biden administration. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suggested that renewals for DACA must be at least 120-150 days before the expiration date of the current DACA.
Cobrador: DACA will be in limbo.
Cobrador emphasized that DACA is not an immigration status, but only an immigration relief renewable yearly for DACA recipients to be able to work. This program was signed by Pres. Obama and continued by Pres. Biden.
After the current renewal period, Cobrador said that the DACA program will be in limbo. She advised dreamers to consult a lawyer as to the next steps of the program. According to the USCIS, there have been about 643,560 DACA recipients since 2020.
Khanal: It is best to be quiet and ask to call your lawyer in the face of ICE officials. In the background, organizers Cobrador and Gautam.
In the face of fear, Shiva Khanal, who discussed extensively Temporary Protection Status and asylum proceedings, warned against telling a lie to ICE officials. He practices immigration, family law, and real estate in New York City.
Committing perjury in the face of immigration officers is a big no, Khanal warned. “It is best to be quiet and ask to call your lawyer.”#
