In her midtown Manhattan office, attorney Rachel Einbund begins each morning the same way: not just with the news, but with a stack of updates from the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
“Every evening and every morning we get updates,” she said. “Here’s what happened yesterday. Here’s what’s going to happen. Be prepared for this.” The constant churn of policy changes under the Trump Administration has turned the job of an immigration lawyer from a specialized legal role into a frontline defense against government overreach, unpredictability, and fear.
“This is a full-time job in and of itself — just staying informed,” Einbund explained. “And that doesn’t even include what we’re hearing on the news, which are just individual stories. We have to make sure that we are up to date and competent in all these new policies.”
Columbia Law School professor Elora Mukherjee, who directs the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, agreed. “Being an immigration lawyer right now is extremely challenging,” she said. The law “seems to be changing on a week-to-week basis and sometimes on a day-to-day basis.”
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has enacted dozens of executive orders, policy shifts, and administrative changes that have deeply affected immigrants and those representing them. This includes declaring a national emergency at the southern border, expanding expedited removals, enhanced vetting, and more.
Amidst the rapidly changing environment, community groups have been tasked with disseminating information on the legal landscape.
In recent months, Mukherjee said, her clinic has dramatically ramped up its Know Your Rights outreach in response to the political climate. “The level of fear in immigrant communities [both] among international students [and] those who don’t have permanent legal status, has skyrocketed,” she said.
At the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), attorney Mio Tenecora explained how they’ve had to maintain a live repository of resources to disseminate important information and combat misinformation. “Rumors spread like wildflowers, and sometimes these rumors cause more harm than the policies themselves,” she explained.
The ILRC has also been regularly updating their training and materials. They’ve built in caveats, emphasizing the guidance they’re giving is the guidance for that day. “What was true today might not be true tomorrow, unfortunately,” Tenecora added.
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Mary Donahue, Deputy Director of Community Outreach at the Legal Aid Society, echoed this sentiment. “We’ve been really focusing on putting out up-to-date materials on our website and distributing them amongst our network,” she explained, adding that Legal Aid has a section of their site dedicated to changes in policy related to the Trump Administration.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has stepped up advocacy and legal Know Your Rights training as well. Earlier this year, CAIR launched new Know Your Rights resources including guides on how Muslims can navigate increased scrutiny at airports, stressing the right to travel in peace and urging any Muslims who have faced harassment to document the incident in a statement of fact. They also released a guide on what to do if ICE visits a mosque.
But giving large scale advice has not been easy since the Trump Administration took office. Rosa Cohen-Cruz, Director of Immigration Policy at Bronx Defenders, said that they also host many Know Your Rights trainings, rehearsing the legal protections available to all individuals. But the rapidly shifting policies from the Trump Administration have made compliance a moving target.
“It makes it really hard to give concrete legal advice because things are in flux,” Cohen-Cruz said. “Reiterating what the law is when it is not being followed is not that helpful.”
Cohen-Cruz said that they provide general community guidance and one-on-one legal advice, with clear guardrails to manage risks. This means affirming individuals’ rights while transparently warning them of potential consequences even when exercising those rights. “You have the right to [this], but you should also know that people have been detained for this,” she sometimes tells community members.
As fear in immigrant communities grows, lawyers are fielding a wave of new and unexpected questions from their clients.
Immigration attorneys said travel guidance is the most common question on their desks right now. “They weren’t asking for this advice six months ago,” said David Gottfried, a longtime immigration lawyer. “I can’t recall a permanent resident ever asking me if they were allowed to travel or if there was any issue traveling prior to the previous month or so.”
Like Gottfried, Einbund said she now spends much of her time answering questions about travel. “Is it safe to travel? Can I travel?” she said. “Well, the lawyerly answer is: ‘It depends. Who are you? What’s your story?’”
She recalled advising one green card holder covered in tattoos, whose wife was concerned that his body art might attract scrutiny because immigration authorities have previously accused those with tattoos of gang membership. He also had a prior DUI. “Well, that could be an issue,” Einbund said. “If he’s complied with the law — done his time, paid his fine — he should travel with a certified court disposition and be prepared to explain.”
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Immigrant fear also now centers around digital expression. Mukherjee said the questions she hears most frequently are: Should I be on social media? What can I post? Should I go to rallies or protests? These concerns have heightened since a new USCIS policy made it explicit that officials are reviewing international students’ and immigrants’ online activity when determining their eligibility for immigration benefits.
“The First Amendment should apply to all people on U.S. soil, regardless of their immigration status,” Mukherjee said. “And that has long been the precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court — nearly a hundred years of precedent on that issue. And yet, we’re seeing an executive branch that is intent on targeting international students and lawful permanent residents based on their peaceful, protected speech,” she said. “There’s no blanket advice that can be given in this uncertain time.”
Mukherjee said her goal is to provide individuals with enough information to make informed decisions. “I’m always honest with folks about what the risks are,” she said. “For some people, expressing themselves through protests and rallies and on social media is core to their identity. For others, that type of speech is far less important, and they care more about making sure that, for example, their undocumented parents are never apprehended because of their own social media activity.”
Einbund said that expectation management is now a core function of the job for immigration attorneys. “You can’t make promises. You can’t make guarantees. We don’t know if the policy is going to change, and you have to advise people properly so that they don’t start to rely on something that could change.”
Many immigration lawyers are trying to strike a balance between being cautious and defiant. “I joke around the office that my new catchphrase is, ‘Last time I checked, the Constitution said…’ because we still have a Constitution. And last time I checked, there was a First Amendment in there,” Einbund said.
But she doesn’t want her clients to take any unnecessary risks. “I don’t gamble. I don’t do the stock market. I don’t like that stuff,” Einbund said. “I always advise the most cautious plan.”
Gottfried echoed this cautious approach. Though he believes permanent residents should have the same protections as citizens, he advises clients to “not go out of their way to be noticed or protest or anything like that in what’s going on right now.”
”Why poke the bear, right? You’re going through an international airport. [Federal authorities] have the right to look through anyone’s electronics and background. Like, why go out of your way or, you know, have any reason for difficulties?”
