HOLLAND, Mich. — Since election day, Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates in Holland has been answering questions from community members as President-elect Donald Trump has been speaking of "mass deportations" during his campaign, along with rumors regarding immigration spreading online.
"There's a lot of rumors floating around right now about what could happen, and our office is looking at what is possible versus what's just rumor and threat," said Sarah Yore-VanOosterhout, founder of LIA.
She says since election day their immigration services hotline has been receiving more than a dozen calls each of its active days from families with mixed legal statuses, lawful permanent residents who are also referred to as Green Card holders and naturalized U.S. citizens.
"People asking if they might be eligible for a particular remedy if they're undocumented. Had a lot of calls from people who are permanent residents and worried about how these changes are going to impact them, whether they should become citizens," said Yore-VanOosterhout. "Even had calls from from naturalized US citizens who are worried about their status as well."
She says they have also been receiving calls from schools and businesses concerned for their students or employees and even foster parents caring for children from overseas.
Yore-VanOosterhout says her office is focusing on realistic scenarios, but also asks their clients to be prepared for various situations.
"What we're advising our clients to do, especially with mixed-status households where one member might be undocumented and there is a risk that that person could be deported, we're asking them to put together emergency plans, which include doing a power of attorney for children, powers of attorney for finances," said Yore-VanOosterhout, in addition to preparing instructions for U.S. citizen children and getting U.S. passports for children as well.
They are also educating immigrants, their employers and schools alike on their rights.
Yore-VanOosterhout says a concern for her regarding any mass raid for deportation is that U.S citizens and green card holders, or lawful permanent residents, can be caught in the middle.
"That's something we've seen throughout history," said Yore-VanOosterhout. "It's because of language proficiency. It's because we're not actually checking documents. Even nowadays, we're still seeing a lot of documented individuals being swept up in enforcement action."
Staff attorney Bill Trenary has been taking calls from many concerned green card holders, even though they have fully legal status.
"There are other processes that they might be looking at like green card holders certainly would be considering citizenship. In many cases, visa holders, if they're on some sort of visa that could be transferred to a green card or renewed," said Trenary.
While he says talk of denaturalization, or taking away citizenship, is "farfetched" due to being protected by the U.S. Constitution, both Trenary and Yore-VanOosterhout fear that prolonging delays in visa, DACA and green card processes can wreak havoc for individuals and families who have been working to retain their legal status.
Trenary says delays in the process to receive green card status already take years.
"I think the processing time for cases, for renewal of DACA, that sort of thing, I would expect that to go up, and that's going to affect people's lives," said Trenary. "It's going to affect their ability to maintain the legal status that in many cases they work so hard to maintain, the ability to live and work in the United States, and be with, oftentimes, other family members who are citizens."
Trenary urges people to not make rash and sudden decisions and to consult experts if they have concerns.
"As much as you can, talk to somebody who knows what they're doing, speak with an attorney if you can, don't take your advice from fear-based social media," said Trenary. "Then rationally, have a plan."
LIA's Immigration Services Hotline can be found here.