Dana Bucin, an immigration attorney in Connecticut, helps employers get green cards or work visas for their undocumented employees. She said Connecticut’s economy could be affected by President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration.
President Donald Trump signed a number of executive orders after being sworn into office on Monday, with many focusing on immigration. They include ending birthright citizenship, declaring a national emergency to deploy military personnel to the border, ending the ‘catch and release’ program, which allows detainees to go free until their court dates, and bringing back the ‘remain in Mexico’ policy, which requires migrants to get asylum in Mexico until their court dates here.
President Trump's border czar also told NBC News in a one-on-one interview, that you can count on workplace roundups happening.
It is a concern for employers in Connecticut. Dana Bucin, a partner at Harris, Beach and Murtha in Hartford, is an immigration attorney. Employers contract their firm to secure work visas and green cards for undocumented employees.
Bucin recommends employers take proactive steps on behalf of their employees.
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“All parole statuses are threatened to be taken away. And as such, even Ukrainians may be left without status at some point. And so we are preparing employers to consider sponsoring green cards for their employees who whose parole status is threatened,” said Bucin.
Workplace raids are also a concern for employers, according to Bucin, who recommends employers know their rights beforehand.
“ICE needs a warrant, probable cause, or the consent of the employer to come on the premises. It cannot be just simply raiding a private property,” said Bucin.
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Bucin said temporary or undocumented workers are in every sector of Connecticut, from restaurants and hospitality, to farming to construction. Deporting them will affect our economy, according to Bucin, and cost the taxpayers even more money because of mass detention.
“Detention is very expensive to taxpayers, very expensive. It's much cheaper to release the person, enable them to legally work so that they could pay taxes and support themselves rather than us taxpayers supporting their incarceration and their meals and their medical care while in custody,” said Bucin.
She is also highly recommending undocumented people reach out to a licensed immigration attorney to assess their situation and see what they can do to get legal status. Those conversations are confidential.
She added that under President Trump’s first term, ICE agents would not pursue people if they had anything pending with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
