The Cost Of The President's Executive Order

Only part of the cost falls on the immigrant; the rest is picked up by us.

immigration immigrants Statute of Liberty Ellis IslandOnce again I had a week filled with anxious calls from clients, former clients and friends worried about President Trump’s executive order banning certain visitors and refugees from entering the United States.

But the calls are not only from people coming from the seven countries affected; many legal permanent residents from other countries, hoping to travel abroad then reenter the U.S., are also alarmed. Friends of friends with long-time nannies from the Caribbean, South America, and Europe are seeking counsel on how not to have their trusted employees kicked out. One former client, originally from Malta, who just got his U.S. citizenship, wondered if his U.S. passport could be revoked. (It can’t.) That’s how panicked people are.

Panic, uncertainty and fear is what President Donald Trump is delivering in spades, but only part of the cost falls on the immigrant. The rest is picked up by us. How?

Many U.S. citizens have parents who are not documented. According to a report by The Center for Migration Studies (CMS), there were at least 3.3 million mixed-status households (U.S. households with undocumented and citizen residents) in 2014. Most of the undocumented aliens have lived here at least 10 years. That amounts to a lot of undocumented immigrants who have laid down stakes in the U.S., contributed to the communities in which they live, and even paid taxes. Let me dispel a myth — anyone, illegal alien or not, can pay taxes. All you need is a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), not a Social Security number. When undocumented aliens try to adjust status through immigration court, one of the first things the judge demands to see is the last five years of tax returns.

If these families are broken up through new immigration enforcement directives, what are the hidden costs to U.S. society and its economy?

It’s long been accepted that breaking up a family (deporting a mom or dad to another country) and leaving children on their own has a psychological impact on the U.S. children left behind. Obviously, they’d feel insecure, depressed, and abandoned. Psychological problems can lead to physical and developmental problems as well.

Now let’s assume some of these abandoned U.S. children have to be taken into the foster care system, housed and fed. According to the CMS study, the U.S. “would carry a financial burden of $118 billion to raise just one-third of the citizen children remaining in the country after their parents were deported.”

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Other economic impact, according to CMS, would include the loss to gross domestic product (GDP) from the work abandoned by the deported adults. Mortgages would go unpaid — 2.4. million loans could default and lead to foreclosures.

So what to counsel clients in these uncertain times? First and foremost, if you’re not a U.S. citizen, don’t leave the country if you’ve got any question about getting back in. (For example, any prior criminal history, no matter how old.)

Next, don’t get arrested for anything — don’t argue with your wife, don’t have a broken tail-light, don’t even speed. Until things settle down, the uncertainty of living in a foreign land has just become more uncertain.

Rather than going further underground to avoid detection, become a stronger member of your community and the community at large. If you’ve got U.S. citizen children, get more involved as a parent in their school, coaching soccer, leading a PTA committee, organizing a fund drive. Volunteer at a community food bank, help a local church paint their rectory, etc. Get your TIN and pay your back taxes. Legitimize yourself as a part of your community so that if you ever do have to appear before an immigration court, you (or your lawyer) can point to your good character and how essential you are. If you qualify for “cancellation of removal” (that’s for people who have U.S. citizen or LPR relatives), you’ll have to prove your good character and the “extreme hardship” your deportation would cause your U.S. relatives. You’ll have a leg up on this if you follow the steps above.

Thankfully, judges in the country have put the breaks on Trump’s new executive order. Just yesterday, the Ninth Circuit upheld U.S. District Judge James Robart’s stay of the order while all parties can brief the issues further.

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It will now take time to iron out and implement the directive and, if it’s upheld, it can hopefully be done in a manner that gives more notice and due process to everyone.

Earlier: Sanctuary Is Not The Same As Amnesty


Toni Messina has been practicing criminal defense law since 1990, although during law school she spent one summer as an intern in a large Boston law firm and realized quickly it wasn’t for her. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a journalist from Rome, Italy, reporting stories of international interest for CBS News and NPR. She keeps sane by balancing her law practice with a family of three children, playing in a BossaNova band, and dancing flamenco. She can be reached by email at tonimessinalw@gmail.com or tonimessinalaw.com, and you can also follow her on Twitter: @tonitamess.