With the current wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric’s, the Trump administration will try to change the U.S. Immigration laws to prevent many groups of immigrants from migrating to the United States. All immigrants must take advantage of the existing laws to petition for their loved ones before it is too late.

President Trump’s style of leadership is to seek to please his base voters without minding the damage such move will do to the economy of the United States. It has always been the wish of his base voters to shut the doors of immigration and reduce the access to the United States through family based migration. Many in the anti-immigration movement believe that immigrants are responsible for all the problems of the United States and they are determined to build walls, change laws and shut out immigrants particularly those who are not highly skilled and educated.

Therefore, the first victim of President’s Trump’s enforcement driven immigration strategy, if any law is passed, will be to prevent any U.S. citizen from filing for his brother or sister abroad seeking to migrate to the United States. This proposal is not new. In the past 7years, such idea has been put forward many times.    

We got the first indication during President Bush’s effort to pass the Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Anytime any new immigration reform bill is passed, you will no longer be able to file for your brothers and sisters in and outside of the United States.

This sentiment was expressed in the proposed RAISE Act sponsored by Republican Senators David Perdue and Tom Cotton. According to Cotton's office in an interview with CNN “the goal remains reducing legal immigration to the United States by 50%. The proposed bill would cut back on "chain migration," ways of immigrating to the United States that are based on family or not based on skills. The bill would limit the types of family members of immigrants that can also be brought to the US to primarily spouses and minor children, would eliminate the international diversity visa lottery and limit the number of annual refugee admissions.

He went further "Over years, that has massively deskilled the migrant flow into America and produced all of those effects I'm talking about," "So, we're proposing to limit family-based migration to spouses and minor children." The proposal would then establish a grading system for new immigrants where the prospective green card holders would be judged on their median salary, advanced degrees, ability to speak English, skills needed by the economy and whether you are able to afford your own health care. "The effect of this, switching to a skills-based system and ending unfettered chain migration, would be over time you would cut net migration in half….”

This current administration is not shying away from its determination to make this happen. Any careless immigrant that fails to take advantage of the current system to petition for his brothers and sisters will regret at the end. Likewise, any parent with children abroad who are over the age of 21 who fails to take advantage of the current law now will not be able to petition for them after the new law is passed. It is important to act now.

Please be advised that it is okay to have more than one application pending before the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. Even if you have filed for your brothers and sisters, they can still explore other avenues to obtain status including marriage to U.S. citizens. Do not look at the estimated length of time the processing takes, please file now. The law could change to speed up the process. Be wise.

The Law Office of Joseph Famuyide is always available to assist you in filing for your siblings and children. It is important to use a lawyer because of the length of time it will take. Many immigrants would have moved before the final adjudication. Please contact Attorney Famuyide to assist you.

This article is for your information only; it is not a legal advice. If you need assistance, please feel free to contact Joseph Famuyide, Esq. at 718-647-6767 or send an e-mail to www.lawyerfamuyide.com.

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