Today is the last day under Obama's administration, prior to the inauguration of Donald Trump. Could you imagine reading this a couple of years ago, you would not believe it was true for a second.

The President-elect's strict stance on immigration has been central to his platform ever since he called Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers on the day he announced his candidacy. He promised to build a border wall and increase deportations by investing in Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officers. Trump has also promised to rescind President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

We have all heard him back-track on his disgusting comments regarding Mexicans and seemingly also doing so regarding DREAMers under DACA. Of course, he still believes that Mexico will pay for the wall though and continues now, to focus on deporting undocumented immigrants who have a criminal record.

How is he going to achieve this any “better” than Obama? Obama deported more undocumented immigrants than Bush.

Experts in this field of immigration enforcement agencies say that Trump's immigration promises are either impossible to achieve, or will take billions of dollars and many years. At an average cost of $12,213 for each deportation, according to ICE, 2 million deportations would add up to more than $24.4 billion over four years. Then we must consider the 500,000+ backlog in the over-burdened immigration courts, as well as the associated court costs.

I am sure he will give it a stab.

How will our clients be affected?

As we are a UK-based US immigration firm, we predominately handle business, investment and family immigration matters. We do not see the majority of our clients being affected by Trump's administration. He is likely to welcome investment and business growth.

We have, however, recently blogged on the latest EB-5 investment green-card proposal. I believe that the Present-elect could favour the increase in capital investment required. Why wouldn't he? See:http://www.baimmigrationlaw.com/blog/2017/1/15/uscis-proposes-changes-in-eb-5-program-including-increase-in-investment-minimums

One area that may impact on our clients is that of waivers of inadmissibility. The majority of the waivers we assist clients obtaining are for “Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude” (CIMTs). Seeing as Trump has focused on deporting criminals, why would he allow those with a CIMT enter the US so “easily”? I believe, he may seek to decrease waiver numbers, or increase the already high threshold. Arguably making it even more complicated for those with any criminal record. It was always the advice that if you have a criminal record and seek entry to the US for business or pleasure, you should contact an immigration lawyer beforehand. It may be that this is going to be even more crucial than ever.

No one actually knows what is going to happen. It is all very speculative, but I whole-heartedly believe that the President-elect is about to get a reality check. I am sure he will complicate immigration and make it even more important for those looking to emigrate to seek the advice of an expert in the field.

If you have any US immigration questions, please contact our office to schedule a consultation on:

info@baimmigrationlaw.com or +44 (0)203 102 7966