On April 4, 2017, the Chicago Tribune published an interview with HSPRD’s Kalman Resnick on the reluctance of immigrants to attend ICE check-ins. As the political climate dramatically shifts, those immigrants who were once able to stay in the U.S provided they attend ICE check-ins every 6 months now fear that these check-ins will lead to notices of deportation.
Under the Obama Administration, immigration officials were instructed to target high-priority immigrants such as those with violent criminal records. For the most part, immigration agents left low-priority immigrants, alone and in some cases, provided them with more time. But President Trump has now ordered immigration officials to work more aggressively to deport those who are in the U.S. without documents.
“What would you do?” asked Kalman Resnick. “Go get deported, go to the horrible violence and poverty of much of Central America and Mexico, to horrible instability and no jobs? Now what’s happening is that people are showing up on their regular report dates, and some of them are getting picked up or detained or deported. And many of them have no remedies they can pursue at this point.”
Although some immigrants are choosing to miss ICE check-ins, most immigration attorneys are advising against it. Those who fail to attend check-ins become fugitives and, as a result, may endanger friends and family who also are living in the U.S. illegally.
Learn more about Kalman Resnick and his practice at HSPRD.