Pennsylvania immigration attorneys see surge in requests for advice as Donald Trump prepares to take office
Immigration attorneys are preparing for President-elect Donald Trump's second presidency, which is set to begin in 17 days.
Trump said he plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants under what he calls the largest mass deportation plan in American history.
David Santee, an immigration attorney in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, said he is reminding clients of their basic rights and how the U.S. government works. He said calls to his office in Media have increased 25% since Trump was re-elected.
"We get calls from people who are undocumented immigrants who maybe came years ago and have lived here for years without any status," Santee said. "We're getting calls from people who came here to study on a valid student visa, got a job sponsored by their employer, now have a green card through their employment. And they're also worried. So everyone's really worried about this."
Steven Larín, deputy director of the Nationalities Service Center, a nonprofit in Philadelphia that supports immigrants, said his organization is also seeing an uptick in calls because of demand for legal services.
"Callers are concerned with what the proposed changes will mean for their family members outside the U.S. who are waiting to get processed for visas to reunite with their family members here," Larín said. "Clients with pending applications for relief are worried about further delays to decisions in their cases."
The president-elect claims criminals will be his first focus, but DACA recipients and people with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) are also concerned.
"What I'm telling everyone is, it is this is important to take seriously," Santee said. "The president does have a lot of power. There's no doubt about that."
CBS News Philadelphia spoke to one immigrant who said he came here from the Dominican Republic to have a better life.
"It's unfair to deport an immigrant who is working and paying taxes," he said in Spanish, adding that he is sometimes afraid to go outside for fear of being caught and deported.
But some lawmakers want to see a crackdown on immigration.
"We do want to make America safe again," Vincent Fenerty, Jr., Republican leader representing Philadelphia's 18th ward, said. "We need to clean our country up and, unfortunately, start deporting all of these people who did not come here legally."
Trump has even promised to end birthright citizenship through executive order, but Santee said there could be legal challenges to that.
"This is something that the Trump administration announced that they're going to do, and the law simply doesn't give the president the authority to do that," Santee said.
As uncertainty looms, Santee urges immigrants to stay calm and become informed.
"Just because somebody can be deported does not necessarily mean that they will be deported," Santee said.
