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By Patricia Elizee
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Nearly 980,000 people were deported from the United States in the first 18 months of the Trump administration, according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute. The annualized pace is roughly 26 percent higher than the average during the previous administration. Those numbers measure a policy. They do not measure what happens next.
I am an immigration attorney in Miami, and I represent the families who live through deportation. What stays with me is not only the removal itself. It is the lives that are torn apart, before, during and after the removal.
But we as a society continue to talk about these lives as nothing but numbers, forgetting what the true aftermath of a removal looks like.
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A woman detained on a Tuesday and released days later in a country she had not seen since childhood. A father set down hours away from his family because the removal flight went where it was scheduled to go, not where he needed to be. A mother who stepped off the plane with no change of clothes, no phone, no money and no way to reach the one person who was supposed to be waiting for her.
The deportation is the part the public sees. The rest is the part families live with.
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Planning Ahead
The first thing most people do not plan for is where they will actually land. A removal flight does not coordinate with your home. It goes where the government sends it. If your family is in the north and the plane lands in the south, you are stranded. You need a plan for getting from the airport to the people who can help you. That means money, a phone and someone on the other end who knows to expect you.
The second is what you leave behind. If both parents are detained or deported and no caregiving plan is in place, the state can become involved in your children's care.
The outcome depends on your state's law, on whether a relative is willing and able to take a child, and on whether a court appoints a guardian. A National Immigrant Justice Center guide advises families to consult a lawyer before seeking guardianship.
Another Chicago Volunteer Legal Services guide explains the distinction between guardianship arrangements. Legal guardianship gives a nonparent legal custody of a child and corresponding parental responsibilities. A plenary guardianship has no end date and is not recommended as a safety plan for those fearing detention or deportation because the child would be living with the guardian rather than the parents.
A short-term guardianship is different. The cited guide describes it as an agreement between two people that requires no court action, and calls it an easy and effective safety plan for immigrants who fear detention or deportation. But there can be drawbacks. Short-term guardians may encounter difficulties enrolling children in school or obtaining public benefits or medical care.
These arrangements are not the same in every state, and a formal guardianship may not be necessary in every situation. Families should seek advice from a qualified attorney about the arrangements available to them and the implications for their children.
Protecting Assets
The third is your assets. If important assets and accounts are held solely in your name, the people you leave behind may encounter difficulties accessing or managing them.
Consider whether a properly drafted power of attorney would allow someone you trust to handle essential financial matters. Review property titles, bank accounts, mortgage arrangements and other important documents with a qualified attorney before making changes. Simply adding someone to an account or title can have consequences of its own.
And you need to think about the decision you will make if you are detained. Depending on your circumstances and the stage of your immigration proceedings, voluntary departure may be an option. It allows an eligible person to leave the U.S. without receiving a formal removal order.
But it comes with specific eligibility requirements and potentially significant consequences for other immigration applications and appeal rights, depending on the circumstances and the type of voluntary departure. It should never be accepted without first understanding the legal implications with a qualified immigration attorney.
None of this means giving up on staying. It means being honest that the worst can happen and deciding in advance what you will do if it does. The families who come through this with the least damage are not always the ones who fought hardest. They are the ones who planned earliest.
Helping Others
If you are a U.S. citizen with a neighbor, a friend or a relative who is undocumented or living on temporary status, this is your responsibility too.
You can be the one who tells them that signing a guardianship is not giving up hope. You can be the one who helps them find a licensed immigration attorney, not a notario, not a consultant, not a voice on the radio who has never passed a bar exam. Bad advice travels through the same churches, group chats and family networks that good help does. Make sure yours is the voice they hear.
The plane will land where it lands. What is yet to be decided is what the lives of the passengers onboard will look like when it does.
And we all have a part in telling that story.
Patricia Elizee is the founder of The Elizee Law Firm in Miami, where she represents clients in immigration and family law matters. All opinions expressed are the author’s own.
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