SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — With just 70 days until Donald Trump’s inauguration, there is doubt about what his second presidency could mean for immigrants in the country.
Jacob Sapochnick is a San Diego-based immigration attorney who says his office has been fielding questions about what’s next since Election Day. He says people are expressing confusion and anxiety.
While much of the attention is on illegal crossings and those who are seeking asylum, he says he's getting questions about other types of immigration cases, like naturalization and work and student visas.
"What’s going to happen in January, what’s going to happen if you’re undocumented, what’s going to happen if you’re about to apply for a visa, so a lot of confusion, definitely a lot of anxiety among people," says Sapochnick about the question's he's receiving.
Sapochnick says he doesn’t see Trump’s promises of mass deportations becoming a reality because he says the financial and labor implications would be too grave. He does foresee more enforcement of those who are undocumented, but even then, he says those deportations could take years.
"You can only deport immediately expedited people who come to the border, but if somebody has been living in the United States all these years, you can’t just deport them," says Sapochnick, saying people already living in the U.S. would be entitled to due process.
He does think the court backlog will continue and could slow the process for certain cases.
The San Diego-based attorney says he's getting questions from people about their visas, asking when they should renew them, and also from companies that sponsor employees for work visas.
Sapochnick says if you can file, do so now, before the lines and wait times get even longer. He recommends that visa renewals be handled before inauguration day, if possible.
However, he recognizes nothing is certain until former President Trump is sworn in again.
