Houston – President-Elect Donald Trump takes office in a matter of months but has already promised swift action under his second administration.
MORE: Trump’s return to White House sets stage for far-reaching immigration crackdown
Recommended Videos
Among the moves, Trump has assured a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants as one of his first campaign promises.
Many questions surround who exactly will be removed from the U.S. as part of the newly elected president’s plan to enforce immigration policy.
Tom Homan, former acting ICE director, will lead this effort.
The separation of families has become a major concern, but Homan ensures families will stay together, even if this means the entire family being deported.
Right now, the rules for deportation are clear:
Who can be deported:
• Those who have participated in criminal acts
• Individuals who are a threat to public safety
• Non-citizens who violate their visa
• Those in the country without valid immigration status
Who is protected from deportation:
• Those who are granted temporary protected status (TPS)
• Non-citizens brought into the U.S. as children and do not have citizenship or residency
• Those who have been present in the U.S. for the last 10 years and have not committed a deportable crime
• Those who would suffer extreme or unusual hardship if deported
• Those from certain countries designated by the U.S. Government
• U.S. Citizens who ask for and relief from removal in immigration court, which can include asylum or adjustment of status
The separation of families has become a major concern, but Homan ensures families will stay together, even if this means the entire family being deported.
RELATED: A pair of Trump officials have defended family separation and ramped-up deportations
Houston Attorney Claudia Pasillas, ESQ with The Brown Law Group addressed de-naturalization, saying immigration officials may find fault with migrant naturalization, under this new plan.
“Maybe they [the migrant] failed to disclose any information that they may have that makes them not eligible for that status. And so [say] now they are citizens, but they [immigration officials] can go back and see how this person gained their status.”
She says mass deportations could include naturalized citizens if their citizenship was somehow fraudulent or depends on fraudulent documents.
“So, let’s say a mom got citizenship and then that’s how the child was able to get citizenship,” she explained. “So, we believe that they [immigration officials] may not just go after mom, if mom failed to disclose her own information, but they may also go after the child, who gained their citizenship through the mom. It’s like the bad apple on the tree. Everybody is gone.”
Last year, we saw several changes with Senate Bill 4.
It was blocked by the state of Texas hours after being approved by the Supreme Court.
It would have stopped immigrants from being arrested in public or private schools, churches, and hospitals, but the bill is currently on hold, leaving many migrants and migrant children vulnerable to deportation.
