Immigration law in the Trump era
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This isn't just bureaucratic dysfunction. It's part of a larger, deliberate strategy to undermine the legal defense of immigrants, including those who are not considered high priority for removal. The most basic tools attorneys once relied on — timely communication, reliable client locators, and even the ability to visit clients — have been rendered useless by a system apparently designed to keep everyone, lawyers included, in the dark.
When the very people who defend immigrants are being blocked at every turn, what hope remains for the clients they're trying to protect?
Johanna Herrero, a Boston-based attorney who has been practicing immigration law since 2011, said in an interview that federal government agents are arresting and deporting immigrants they're not supposed to be arresting and deporting, including individuals with no criminal record whatsoever and whose sole offense seems to be that they're in the country illegally. It's as if police suddenly decided to arrest and jail regular citizens for jaywalking, Herrero said.
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Everybody is a priority now, Jonathan Ng, who works for Herrero's law office, told me. From May 2020 to June 2022, Ng worked for the US Department of Homeland Security's office of the principal legal advisor, serving as the government's representative in immigration removal proceedings and litigating removal cases.
'It's absurd to me. It's a waste of resources and taxpayer's dollars,' Ng said. 'It's a waste of law enforcement resources, too. Federal agencies that have nothing to do with immigration — DEA, ATF — are now doing all these things to arrest people without a criminal record.'
'I've had clients with approved Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) cases since 2018, on the path to a green card, and they're being picked up and jailed like criminals,' Herrero said.
In the last few months, Herrero said that her entire office did a turnaround where 'everyone's doing bond hearings now and we're hardly even seeing new people come in with asylum claims.' Her caseload used to be around 10 percent people detained; now more than 80 percent is dealing with people in detention centers all over the country.
One of the worst aspects of the current system, Herrero and Ng said, is a basic lack of communication. 'Say, a client is detained on a Saturday morning … and we can't even locate where they are for about three to four business days,' Herrero said. 'Or I'm waiting on video for my client, and they're not in that location anymore. I call and they say, 'Oh, she was transferred this morning — now she's in Texas.' Where in Texas? You're talking about 20 different possible detention centers she could be in.'
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Sometimes, bond hearings — where an immigration judge decides whether a detainee can be released from custody while their immigration case is pending and, if so, sets the amount of money (bond) needed to be paid to secure their release — are scheduled and by the time the attorney shows up on the video call or in person, the client has already been deported to their home country. 'No notice. No explanation. Just gone,' Herrero said. Sometimes even showing up for the client is a challenge. 'Every judge has different rules,' Herrero said. 'We've had to fly to New Mexico and Arizona on one day's notice because video hearings were denied.'
Even immigrants who are following the government's orders — like
By the way, none of these government actions are necessarily illegal, Herrero said.
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Traditionally, though, immigration enforcement prioritized individuals with serious criminal records or those who recently crossed the border illegally, rather than casting a wide net over everyone without legal status. This new, radical approach is akin to pulling over and ticketing every single driver who's even a couple of miles over the speed limit. It's technically possible, but unprecedented and overwhelming.
The message is clear: No one is safe. For immigrants caught in an erratic system, the stakes are life-altering. And for the lawyers who defend them, the work has become an exercise in frustration and heartbreak. When the rules change overnight, and justice becomes such a moving target, what are we left with? A diminished rule of law.
This is an excerpt from
, a Globe Opinion newsletter from columnist Marcela García.
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Marcela García is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
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