Immigration experts advise visa holders to cancel domestic travel plans amid what they called an alarming rise in the number of airport arrests.
Immigration experts warned against international travel for visa holders for the time being, as several instances of foreigners denied re-entry were reported. But now, the experts are urging people to exercise caution even for domestic travel because several cases of detainment have been reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia.
What is happening? Who are getting arrested at airports?
People with expired visas are at risk of getting detained at the airports. Generally, documents proving that your visa has expired but you already applied for an adjustment of status, or extension, or asylum would have allowed such people to remain in the US legally. But attorneys reported an alarming rise in airport arrests. Immigration attorney Rajiv Khanna said some of these detained people do not have criminal records; they have work authorization or advanced parole documents. Khanna said such individuals should speak with their lawyers, carry all important documents and be prepared for unreasonable delays.
‘Avoid domestic air travel unless absolutely necessary’
Business immigration attorney Lucy Magardichian said she recommends avoiding domestic air travel completely unless it’s absolutely necessary. “We are seeing increased immigration enforcement activity at domestic airports, including reports of ICE arrests involving individuals whose underlying status has expired—even when a lawful extension or change of status is pending,” she said. A pending EOS/COS does not necessarily protect you from immigration enforcement or arrest, she added.
If you are not in valid immigration status now…
Immigration attorney Tsui H Yee said she advised her clients to cancel their vacation next week at the risk of sounding like an alarmist, but it’s not worth the risk, she said. “In the past, I never had to worry about clients being nabbed by ICE for flying domestically. If someone had an outstanding deportation order or an administrative warrant, then that’s a different story,” she said. “But in the last 2 weeks, there have been numerous reports of clients who had pending immigration applications being detained before or after landing on domestic flights.””The bottom line is that if you are not in valid immigration status now, you should avoid flying. For example, even if you filed an I-485 adjustment application before your nonimmigrant status expired, you could still be flagged as an enforcement priority,” Yee said. Go to Source
