After a Crazy News Week ….
I’m writing this late Saturday evening after what I think everyone, regardless of their political affiliation (or lack thereof), would agree was one continuous, crazy news week.
The new Congress doesn’t really have a ‘personality’ yet, but, in any event, its day-to-day workings are obscured by the ongoing Senate confirmation hearings. Some of those hearings are going quite smoothly, professionally; others are contentious; at least one is almost bizarre.
This would be big news with any other transition to any other president elect. But not in 2017. News of Russian meddling in our election with unsubstantiated rumors and dossiers are on every media site; the Clinton e-mails are suddenly ‘a thing’ again; Donald Trump had his first news conference as President elect and it was … different; President Obama made his farewell address; Trump’s tweets continue dominate– especially in the mornings as he posts them; not even Meryl Streep is immune.
The result has been a white noise of constant news and almost-news and non-news and fake news. People from all walks of life in offices, factories, schools, parks, laundromats – everywhere people congregate – are talking about one or more of the above.
Walk through a crowded mall and within minutes you’ll hear ‘Trump,’ ‘Rudy,’ ‘the Russians…’, ‘that Exxon guy,’ ‘Biden seemed really surprised,’ ‘those Bush daughters are so classy,’ ‘Obama care is …’
It’s a week to the inauguration and it’s hard to find a more confused time during a transition of power in our history, at least without going back to the 1800s.
We keep getting calls from clients and prospective clients looking for answers about what’s going to happen with Immigration Law.
We don’t know. Anyone who proclaims anything different is just guessing.
But, we do know this – whatever happens with immigration law in the United States isn’t happening on January 21st, or February 21st or …
Lost in all the headlines this week were a few items we made note of on our Facebook page. First, there was Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s Town Hall meeting on CNN Tuesday night. The immigration question was put directly to Ryan by a woman who fears being deported herself. As the New York Times reported:
Mr. Ryan said that Mr. Trump’s promise of a deportation force would not come to fruition. “I can see that you love your daughter and you’re a nice person who has a great future ahead of you,” he said, “and I hope your future’s here.” When the moderator, Jake Tapper, reminded Mr. Ryan of the president elect’s campaign promise to create a “deportation force,” Mr. Ryan said, “I know, I know.” He continued, “But I’m here to tell you, in Congress, it’s not happening.”
That’s hardly the stuff of instant changes to immigration law.
Then, there’s the reality of how things really work in Washington – something that is completely lost when the rhetoric is constant and increasingly heated. There’s an immediacy to the talking that has no correlation to the speed of legislation.
American democracy has frequently been described as a ‘logjam.’ That’s no different now than it was for William Howard Taft.
President elect Trump appears to have big plans – grandiose in fact – based on hardline ideas and, as such, he’s going to face stiff challenges along the way. It’s not necessarily Trump, or his staff, or any of the stuff going on around them, it’s the American way. Our system of government is much more like an overloaded 1970’s wood-paneled station wagon than a nice handling sports car.
So, what does all this mean? It means that things aren’t going to change much on January 20th. It means that there’ll be plenty of notice before anything does happen on the immigration front.
Most importantly – much more importantly – it means that anyone who has any immigration concerns whatsoever should be putting all their paperwork together and making absolutely sure that they have done everything they could possibly do now to help themselves.
If you’re not sure if you have, if you have any concerns or questions about you or your relatives or friends, talk to us now, today.
You have plenty of time until you don’t.
