Monday night, the President put out a tweet pledging to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Whether he is serious or using it to pander to his base at the beginning of his campaign, it is unlikely that the administration could even, if it wanted to, deport millions of undocumented. This is partially due to the fact that immigration detention facilities around are already at capacity and ICE has limited resources.
However, it never hurts to be prepared just in case. Here are a few steps you can take:
- The first and easiest thing to do is to meet with an immigration attorney beforehand to see if you have any options to legalize your status here or prolong your stay in the country
- If you meet with our firm specifically and decide to retain us, we would advise you to keep a signed copy of a G-28 form at home or in your car so immigration authorities know you are represented by an attorney
- Hold on to documentation or other evidence of how long you have been in the country, it could be beneficial to your case in the future. This includes tax returns, bills, or anything else that contains your name, date and address within the U.S.
- If you have been arrested for any reason, keep a copy of the convictions
- Keep birth certificates for yourself, your children and your spouse as well as marriage certificates or divorcee decrees or any other legal documents in case you are arrested
- If possible, have money saved up in an account or wherever possible in case you need to bail yourself out of immigration detention
Following these steps will make the process for yourself and your immigration attorney much easier. Furthermore, there are plenty of resources out there including a very useful Know Your Rights tool from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which comes in 14 languages. For more detailed Michigan oriented information, we recommend checking out the the Michigan Immigration Rights Center website or own our own Youtube Channel with explainer videos in both English and Spanish on your rights as a document or undocumented immigrant.