Trump administration to force foreigners to apply for green cards abroad

Staying on top of more major headlines from throughout this week and taking a look at a social media post here on your screen, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.It says this, most green card applicants will need to go abroad to apply for permanent residency.American consulate rather than filing from within the U .S.as they do now.That's according to an announcement made by the Trump administration this past Friday.

Now, for over half a century, foreign nationals with legal status have been able to apply for and complete the entire process for permanent residence in the U .S.That includes individuals married to U .S.citizens, holders of work and student visas, also refugees and political asylum seekers.However, this announcement from the U .

S.and immigration services says foreigners who are in the U .S.temporarily and who want to apply to become lawful permanent residents or green card holders will have to return home and apply there.A lot to discuss with this developing story, so joining us next to do so is Andrea Flores.She is a former immigration advisor for the Department of Justice.

Andrea, good morning, good to see you.Good to see you.

Thanks for having me.Let's just set the groundwork here for our viewers who might not be familiar with this process in general.Before this announcement was weighed, Andrea, typically how long does it take for someone to get a green card and what does that process look like?

It can be extremely lengthy depending on how you enter the country or what status you are in.And people should know that there are two different ways you can apply to get a green card.You can apply from abroad at a consulate or you can do what millions of immigrants have done now for, as you mentioned, decades, which is apply to adjust your status because you are already here on a visa.You are already working.You may be married to a U .S.

citizen or have family.So they are just interrupting a video.established process that Congress has fully recognized as legal.And they're trying to say all of those millions of people who normally would apply from within the country now need to leave the country to do so and get their green card.

And just to get some more background context, Andrea, roughly how many people a year apply for a green card here in the US?

So the numbers, you know, always fluctuate depending on administration, but we're talking about in the hundreds of thousands, almost up to a million.And so that is a lot of people that you can imagine who already have established ties here in the United States.And just so people who may not be as familiar, we're talking mainly about people like doctors who are here working on an employment visa.Like I said, spouses of U .S.citizens.

This is a real direct hit on on American families who rely on the fact that our immigration system doesn't require their loved one or an employer won't lose an employee to have to leave the country for potentially years, because the wait times for these green cards can go into the years, which is why Congress has said, why would we make someone just leave the country if we already know they're eligible and they're likely already going to get their green card?

I want to take us out to a social media post here from USCIS, which is the U .S.Immigration and Customs Services.They say this.need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U .S.

illegally after being denied residency.A couple of things to unpack with this social media post.Let's start with the fact that they say extraordinary circumstances.Andrea, do we know at all what those extraordinary circumstances would entail?

No.So when they released this policy, they left out several key details that anyone impacted by this new guidance should know for their applications.And they seem to issue a cleanup sort of announcement later on Friday, saying that there may be some exceptions for people who are maybe serving the United States in an important sort of national interest role.But we really don't know very much about how this will work.And once again, I want to just remind people of the scope You know, these are people already in the community on a legal immigration status.The United States has said, you can work here.

And what they're trying to claim is that the law itself is a loophole.There's been no change in any prior administration that created a loophole that made it easier for somebody to get a green card.But what they're trying to do now If you read that announcement that you showed, they're very focused on increasing their removal numbers.So they're using this process to say, just in case we can remove more people who maybe don't meet the requirements of adjustment of status, it'll make it easier for us to remove them.That's an absurd justification because when you look at grant rates for people who qualify for these green cards through this process, they're always upwards of 80%, right?So this is a very small number of people we're talking about who may not even qualify.

qualify once they're in the country.It's almost like they're saying they don't want to do their own job if someone doesn't qualify.They want to send hundreds of thousands of people away from their family members and then remove them that way.It's it's really it's a cruel, unnecessary bureaucratic hurdle they're creating.

What kind of concerns are allbeing focused on by individuals?Let's say, for example, they're either married to a US citizen, they're under humanitarian protection, or those who hold work and student visas.I mean, where do they fall in within this announcement and how things might change?

This is a really important question because some people who are eligible for adjustment of status may have qualified for something like asylum, where it's actually unsafe for them to return to their home country because if they received asylum in the United States, they could actually be targeted once they return.So this is creating danger for also immigrants who we have said it is impossible for you to go back without facing persecution.And there's so many different categories of people this could impact.And I like I always remind people people, you may not think immigration impacts you, but this may involve that nurse or doctor in your community.This may involve this professor in your university.This could involve someone in your neighborhood who was just simply waiting to adjust their status to firmly establish their family here.

I mean, this is the legal immigration system that's being attacked.This is not what President Trump claimed he was going to do, which was crack down on unauthorized migration and target people who are threats to us.These people pose no threats, right?And it's really important, I think, that people understand They are trying to change who gets to qualify to be an American, right?We saw that with the birthright citizenship case.We're seeing this here.

It is much easier for a consular officer abroad to reject a green card and to not have any court look at that rejection than it would be if they adjust here in the United States.So this is a very cruel and necessary change, and there will likely be many lawsuits challenging it.

Let's talk about that as some of the responses that we've seen from immigration attorneys, but also from aid groups who are following this closely.What kind of lawsuits have we already seen?being brought forth because of these changes and how do we expect possibly these aid groups and immigration attorneys again to continue to push back on this?

Most likely they'll challenge the memo itself as violating the Administrative Procedures Act, that the way that they issued this was not appropriate.It gives, once again, it's missing huge amounts of detail that lawyers need to help their clients.It's missing details on the exceptions and who may still get to stay, once again, here with their families or in their jobs.I also imagine you'll see some businesses and employers bring lawsuits because imagine that you've had someone here for, like, 10 years that you've trained and you had the expectation they could adjust their status and you are now going to have to find a replacement for them?I mean, this is why this makes zero sense for Americans as well because There's about 13 percent of the United States is just foreign born.They're here on sort of legal immigration status.

It's always been part of our economy and the way our communities work.So they're trying to disrupt the very nature of that and send more people outside the country which they did in the first term for different categories of immigrants.Right.They said asylum seekers have to wait in Mexico.It's easier to keep people out than once you let them in is their justification.But that is not the way the law works or that immigration has ever worked here.

Let's now focus on the people who are going to be impacted by this change.Applicants that are in the process, or they are starting this process, or maybe even if they're far along, what is something important that they need to keep in mind?Who should they be in contact with?What kind of paperwork do they need?I mean, really, what are the next steps for them?

Absolutely.If you are working with a lawyer, talk to their lawyer immediately.I mean, there's practice guidance being issued.by amazing organizations like American Immigration Law Association, AILA.they need to act cautiously and not make any fast moves because, like I said, there will likely be litigation very quickly that could change the impact of this.And it also seems that the administration will be sending out sort of clarifications about who this impacts.

Now, I imagine the White House is getting calls from businesses, like I said, about how this could impact their bottom line.And the group that I'm most worried about, though, is actually American families, right?So you say you're a parent and you sponsored a child or some version of that, or you are an adult child and you sponsored your parent, like, why would they have to leave the country now, right?And so I worry that maybe some of those who can't call the White House so easily will get lost in this story, but it is still important that people understand they followed the laws, and now they're trying to pull the carpet out from under them and say, you don't get to stay here as every sort of generation before you did.as you continue to pursue what you are already eligible for.I think they use a lot of language like loopholes and fraud, but this is just the process as it's always worked.

There's been no change in law, right?This is just immigration law and they want to make it seem suspect to everyone.

Well, Andrea, I know that there's still a lot of questions left to be answered.This announcement just happening a couple of days ago this past Friday.So we have to see how all this develops.But is there anything else you feel you would have to add so that our viewers should be aware of as we follow how all of this progresses?

I think it's important to know that this is not going to be limited just to impacting immigrants, right?It is impacting our economy at a time when prices are rising, when labor shortages are growing, when there has been important data that has come out that said increasing deportations has not increased employment for native -born workers.So this theory that the administration wants Americans to believe that removing immigrants will make our lives better is not proving out, and things are getting more expensive and difficult for Americans.And this is the type of change in immigration policy that does the same thing.

Andrea Flores, a former immigration advisor for the Department of Homeland Security.Thanks so much for taking the time to join us here today on this developing story.Thank you so much.Of course.We are going to step away for a brief commercial break, taking us out to a live image that we have of the White House in Washington, D .C.

We'll be right back.