S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on today's show. The Trump administration wants to require more green card applicants to go back to their home countries to apply. We'll sort the details on that. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. The Trump administration wants most green card applicants to return to their home countries to apply. The change is a surprise to many , upending longstanding immigration policy while creating a lot of confusion. Tammy Lynn is an immigration law professor and supervising attorney at the University of San Diego's legal immigration clinic. Tammy joins me now. Welcome to the show. Hi.
S2: Hi. Thanks for having me.
S1: I'm glad to have you here to to sort all of this out. First , tell us about what the Trump administration announced on Friday. Sure.
S2: Sure. So it's not too surprising. They usually like to drop a little bit of this kind of shock and or interpretation of immigration law on a Friday , especially a long weekend. But what was scary about it for a lot of folks was just kind of this notion that if you're getting a green card , um , most folks might have been able to get it in the United States. They were really pushing that. That was a loophole. And you have to leave the country and go consular process abroad in order to return with a green card.
S1: So what do you make of that ? I mean , does does that. This is not something that's ever been policy.
S2: Um , there were all these other things that they were going to go through in their analysis whether or not they were going to grant these cases. Um , so , you know , they had to kind of pull back a bit. I think the press releases everything said you have to leave the country to do this. Um , and then after there was a lot of outcry and kind of concern about what that actually meant , they said , well , we're just going to have basically almost like an extreme vetting type thing. You need to be able to prove to us that there's an economic reason or humanitarian reason why this person can only do it in the United States. My argument to that , though , is that this was actually legislated in the 50s , the 60s , and even expanded a bit in the 90s. Um , and it is a bit of a kind of normal thing that they do where they try to shock folks and maybe even almost intimidate them into potentially not even applying for something that they are eligible for.
S1: So there's history with this.
S2: It was something that Congress enacted in the Immigration and Nationality Act back in , like I said , the 50s and the 60s , where basically , if you entered the United States on a legal visa , you were pulled into the country. Oftentimes , this is going to impact folks that are married to U.S. citizens or children of U.S. citizens who entered legally , maybe later finish their schooling , whatever it is , got married , had kids. Um , and it's going to be an extra burden on even U.S. citizens because of the long wait times that are happening having to be separated from their their spouses , their children , uh , and even the financial part of it , of having to go abroad , maybe staying there for a while and then having to come back on a visa.
S1: You referred to this as , you know , a shock and a move here from the Trump administration.
S2: You know , shock and awe. Um , which is kind of where where I got that from. Lots of folks were calling. Um , even talking with my colleagues. You know , a lot of folks were already out of town for the long weekend. Um , but then had to really scramble to put out messaging so that clients didn't panic. So really , there's there's two groups of folks. You've got the first group of folks that already have pending cases. They have not let us know , you know , what they're going to do with people that have already filed for their green card applications while in the United States. Then you've got the other folks where maybe we've already prepared a lot of their things to be filed , and now we're going to take a step back and let them know , okay , well , this is what's really saying. Here are the potential risks. Do you still want to do that ? And it had an impact when they did this with naturalization last year , where a number of people hesitated on whether or not they wanted to apply for it yet , or if they wanted just to see how this was going to be put into action.
S1: After the initial announcement of this change , the USCIS , and that is the United States Citizenship. Citizenship and Immigration services. They later tried to clarify what actually has changed.
S2: Um , just to say , if you try to get a green card here , we're going to do almost extreme discretionary vetting on this. Um , they did pull back on that and said , well , you can still apply. You can still have your cases pending , but you have to show us there's a humanitarian reason or an economic reason why you can't leave the country and go consular processing. Um , my argument to that is that , again , this is something that Congress passed. If they wanted to have it this way , that's being interpreted by this administration , they would have changed the laws or not have enacted the laws as they are to allow people to stay in the country and adjust their status and get their green cards.
S1:
S2: I you should always talk to an immigration attorney. You should always talk to an immigration expert because it is complicated. Oftentimes , even I've been practicing for 20 years. I've had folks fill out the application forms , file it , and then realize maybe they were way over there in over their heads. And later coming to me or any of the organizations I used to work with , and then wanting help to fix things. It's harder to fix things once things have already filed and before filing it. I really think everyone should go to a trusted attorney , um , a trusted nonprofit legal organization. We have many of those in San Diego County. Um , just to get a good assessment and really know what risk may or may not happen. Um , but again , if they're eligible for it , they should apply for it. And delaying it is even more stressful for a lot of the families here whose spouses parents are U.S. citizens and just wanting to make sure that their family members are okay. And we'll get swept up in any of these targeted kind of raids that we've been seeing in the past year.
S1: You know , this latest shakeup in the immigration system isn't the first that immigration lawyers like yourself have experienced.
S2: One was just , well , this is doom and gloom there. It's their way of just saying they can deny every case that comes before them. Um , but then once people kind of really read what the actual memo said , uh , and then also hearing when they pulled back a bit , it's not much different than what is already allowable for immigration officers to do. They ? You know , you're not guaranteed a green card because you are married to a U.S. citizen. A lot of people don't realize that , but it is under the discretion of the agency to say yes or no. To me , it sounds like they are giving them more , um , rope , I guess , in their discretion to say no. But I do think that it's too early to tell what's going to happen. I do think that , um , some of my colleagues , more than I am , will likely file lawsuits about any type of misinterpretation of laws. And if this really was a quote unquote loophole , then they should do it the right way , and they should go through Congress to try to pass it through legislation and amendments of the existing laws.
S1: You know , the the U.S. Supreme Court also , you know , is expected to announce a decision on the Trump administration's challenge to birthright citizenship in the coming weeks.
S2: I did listen to the oral arguments , and it seemed that maybe most of the justices agreed that constitutionally there is birthright citizenship. Um , that is the hope that it will maintain what has been in our books forever. Um , I think that , uh , it's a hard time. I think it's just a very hard time because in , in , in most cases with the law , we have precedent. We have things that have been around for , you know , half a century or more. Um , and it seems as if this administration is willing , in this 2.0 version , to just try everything and anything to not only restrict people coming into the country , but restrict legal immigration. Um , and then , you know , saying mia culpa afterwards when it's been found that they were in the wrong or what their actions were , were illegal. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Well , I really appreciate your your breakdown of this , and it's something we'll continue to follow. I've been speaking with Tammy Lynn , professor of immigration law and supervising attorney with the University of San Diego's legal immigration clinic. Tammy , thank you so very much.
S2: Thank you very much.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
