Thread by @matt_cam

"WHY DON'T THEY JUST DO IT THE RIGHT WAY?"

A true story, from today:

My client has been in the US for 23 yrs. Her adult son is a US citizen. Never been arrested, always worked + paid her taxes. Has #TPSElSalvador, but wants permanent status.

Easy, right? Not so much.

Let's start with this: adult children can only file for their parents if they entered legally. If not, the parent has to leave and wait for 10 years before applying. Few non-citizens know this before I tell them. All citizens should.

My client has been in temporary legal status (#TPS) since 2001. This gives no path to citizenship, and Trump has ended it. We have until Jan 2, 2020 to do something for thousands of my Salvadoran neighbors.

This is super complicated, so I'll do it ine 1 tweet: thanks to an Obama-era BIA decision/policy people without prior lawful entries can "cure" this with a special travel permit and benefit from immediate relative's petitions where they couldn't otherwise. Trump may cancel this.

My client also had an "unexecuted" deportation order from a court date she was never notified of in 1996. Thanks to an extremely helpful loophole (and timing), she can still travel, re-enter, and gain residency through her son.

If it were up to Trump/Barr, none of these policies would benefit her and her son wouldn't be able to file for her residency until 2029--and then only after she had lived outside the US for that time.

Finally, she accepted some public benefits after her son was born more than 8 years ago. Thanks to that and some other factors, Trump's new "public charge" rule could have been a real problem if this case had been filed as of next month.

Two attorneys who didn't know enough about the current state of the law had told her either that she would have to leave for 10 years or that she should complete an expensive, lengthy process for which she wasn't even eligible. That's how confusing all of this can be, even for us

We had a good interview today, and it's looking like my client will have her greencard through her son's petition by the end of the month. This is good. She was very fortunate.

I've met hundreds of Salvadorans w/#TPS and US citizen kids who will not be so lucky.

So that's what it takes to get permanent residency for someone who has been here legally for 18 years, has two US citizen kids, has earned her own way, & has never had any trouble with the law.

Starting to see why "they can't just do it the right way?"

#SaveTPS #TPSElSalvador

N.B.: Every major "reform" bill Trump has backed to date would eliminate the parent visa and leave no way for citizens to file for their parents. This is only one of the many unacceptable provisions Trump's trying to shove through rn while yelling at Dems for not working with him