As the 2024 election approaches, we again confront much negativity in the press about the possibility of Trump becoming president.

Before writing this post, I looked over my blogs during the first Trump era.

I wrote no less than sixteen blog posts on the topic of Trump and Immigration — moreover I wrote or co-authored similar pieces for NJ.com as well as The Hill and Fox News.

Regardless of your political views, I would like to assure you that Trump becoming president will not be the “end of immigration.”

No matter who is in power – and I’ve seen many changes in my past three decades as an immigration lawyer – immigration is a part of the fabric of the United States, and will continue to be in the future.

Let’s look at the facts, based on historical precedent, and once again separate “fact from fiction” as we approach the election.

To be clear, I have appeared on many national platforms in criticism of Trump on immigration.

Will there be more deportations under Trump?

Seven years ago, this was also the fear. In 2017, I wrote about how deportations had not gone up in numbers, they were just more “newsworthy.”

While there were more suddenly more stories in the news that were truly heartbreaking, these stories have always been that way. It’s just that mainstream was finally taking notice.

In fact, Trump deported fewer people than Obama.

In eight years, President Barack Obama deported more immigrants than all presidents of the 20th century combined. Yet when the media announced that information, there were no widespread protests. Despite Obama’s frequent refrain that he was removing “gangbangers,” statistics by the the Department of Homeland Security showed that the vast majority of those deportations were noncriminals.

In other words, undocumented immigrants. Millions of them.

All of the constant anti-immigrant rhetoric from Trump is particularly foolish considering his record as a businessman with a reliance on foreign labor.

Even now, Mar-a-Lago and the Trump National Golf Club, both in Florida, as well as his golf club in Bedminster, sponsor immigrants to work on H-2B visas. These people hail from the very same countries where the President deports so many – albeit less than Obama.

As the nonpartisan CATO Institute pointed out, “Immigration’s long-run relative wage impact on native-born American workers is close to zero.” This fact is something that Trump the businessman knows despite rhetoric to the contrary.

Will Trump adopt policies that limit green cards?

This was also the fear in 2020, when I wrote this blog post. While the Immigration and Nationality Act does empower the president with a broad spectrum of authority on Immigration, it is also true that executive orders are met with litigation. Federal courts operate as checks and balances to the president.

Every sitting president changes the rules on immigration, and all that means is that we immigration lawyers need to step up our game. There has never been a time when qualified immigrants have been stopped from entering our country, and the benefits of immigration to our economy are well documented.

As one avenue closes under one president, another will open. It has been that way since  Obama’s Justice Department fought in the Supreme Court to uphold mandatory detention of aliens as constitutional in an idea that found its genesis in the laws signed by Clinton (in his efforts to show that he was tough on immigration — while campaigning for reelection).

Will Trump Or Harris Be Better For Immigrants?

Fact: No matter who is in charge, there will always be a lawful path to citizenship for immigrants.

In 2020 I wrote this blog post on Trump vs Biden, and I am going to quote it verbatim. Just remember, this was written almost five years ago:

“The election next week is shaping up to be one of the most contentious in history. There is a lot of uncertainty, not only of outcomes, but also as to whether either side will respect or believe the other is ultimately the winner.

Many people fervently feel that it is essential that one side or the other win, or else, ‘catastrophe.‘

When it comes to immigration law, my . . . experience tells me this has never been the case.

[After September 11] the message was how “uncertain” times were, for immigrants.

We were also told immigration was “destroyed” by Bill Clinton’s presidency when in 1996 he signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.

Guess what? In both circumstances, positive outcomes for millions of immigrants carried on, new challenges notwithstanding.

Barack Obama and his vice president Joe Biden were human rights violators who oversaw the detention of children in deplorable conditions in detention centers all over the United States.

Even as I write this, be aware that Obama deported more immigrants than Trump.

While fear may be a valid concern in the context of the current presidential administration (as well as the last three, egged on more and more by social media), one fact always remains:

Good triumphs over evil. Immigration lawyers need to maintain perspective while we fight for our clients.“

Facts Are Stubborn Things

In a blog post I wrote “thanking” President Trump for his help with immigration, I explained how his poor policies had really put the spotlight on terrible regulations for immigrants in the US. These regulations had degraded the rights and experiences of immigrants over the course of a quarter-century under multiple presidents.

Before the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA), our immigration laws were much more forgiving. If you crossed the border without proper documentation, overstayed your visa, or worked illegally, you could still potentially regularize your status. In fact, you might not even have had to leave the country.

This older approach reflected a more compassionate view of immigration, one that valued family unity and redemption. But IIRAIRA changed all that, introducing stricter penalties and making it much harder for undocumented immigrants to legalize their status.

Even with these new, harsher, and less compassionate regulations, immigration lawyers have helped millions of immigrants become lawful citizens, and reunited with families since 1996, despite the best intentions of both political parties.

And we will continue to do so, no matter who wins in November.