NORTH TEXAS IMMIGRANTS, ATTORNEYS FEEL ‘SENSE OF URGENCY’ AS TRUMP PROMISES MASS DEPORTATIONS
Salazar said Project 2025 – a presidential blueprint that Trump has distanced himself from but that was helmed by two former Trump administration officials — calls for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to stop accepting applications for backlogged processes including VAWA, U visas and other applications such as family petitions.
“I tell my clients that I’m submitting their applications, but that the law could change at any time,” Salazar said. “And that's why now ... our workflow is going to be different because we want to submit everything as soon as possible, definitely before inauguration.”
There’s also concerns, Salazar said, that Trump will revoke some migrants’ Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, which allows people from certain countries — including Haiti, El Salvador, Venezuela and Lebanon — to live and work in the U.S if it's unsafe for them to return home.
He tried to terminate TPS for several countries during his first administration, but the effort was held up in court and the Biden administration later extended some protections.
“Each president gets to decide whether or not to extend that,” Salazar said. “And so, we're thinking that's one of the programs that Trump is going to try to do or just not renew the status.”
Faisal Al-Juburi is the chief external affairs officer of the Texas nonprofit RAICES, which processes thousands of immigration, asylum and refugee cases each year. They have offices statewide, including Dallas.
Like Salazar, Al-Juburi said Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has caused concern among clients. He said the threats are specifically to asylum, which he called a human right. But, he said, the fear isn’t unique to the Trump administration.
“The reality is that under this current administration, under the Biden administration, we have also been experiencing some real threats to immigration in America,” he said.
Still, RAICES is already warning the incoming Trump administration of the “devastating consequences” of its proposed immigration policies. In a statement posted to its website after the election, RAICES said it “is ready to challenge any presidential actions that threaten equitable access to the legal and human right to seek safety in the U.S.”
