As President Donald Trump looks to reshape American immigration policy and works to accomplish his vows for mass deportations, two Iowa City lawyers are preparing for the next four years. 

Since coming into office on Jan. 20, Trump has signed a slew of executive orders targeting immigration. Among these orders came threats to the notion of birthright citizenship, the declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, and several orders pertaining to plans for mass deportations. Along with these orders, Trump rescinded five Biden-era immigration orders.

These executive orders threaten to reshape the field of immigration law and have caused increased strain on immigration lawyers across the country. 

In Iowa City, Jessica Malott, of Malott Law, said her firm has come under increased pressure as she’s been fielding calls from clients and non-clients alike regarding how they may be impacted. 

“People are trying to get that reassurance, and I am only one person, and I have a small office with a lot of clients, and so it has been difficult,” Malott said.

Malott has worked in immigration law through four presidential terms. Her work is largely family based, focusing on petitions, naturalizations, removal deport, along with humanitarian work.

Malott said that a unique aspect of immigration law is the extent to which it can change from president to president. 

She said that she’s had some of her clients through multiple presidents and has had to communicate with them how the legal approaches she takes with their cases may change depending on the administration. 

During Trump’s first administration, Malott said his attempts at dealing with the southern border resulted in an immigration court so overwhelmed with cases that it was “unable to work efficiently.”

“In his first term, he tried to deport everyone, and by deporting everyone, you deport no one, because you have no prioritization,” Malott said.

Malott said most courts were somewhat relieved during the Biden administration due to the implementation of prosecutorial discretion, allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorneys to choose who they deem worth prosecuting.

Kate Goettel, an immigration attorney who recently joined the University of Iowa College of Law to direct a federal impact litigation clinic that focuses on immigration law, said even during the Biden administration, Trump-era policies still complicated the field. 

Goettel pointed to Title 42, an immigration law passed by Trump in 2020, which allowed increased deportations in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across the southern border. 

The Biden administration kept this policy for a year, which Goettel said complicated immigration law and backlogged courts. The primary difference between these two administrations, according to Goettel, is attitude. 

“I think in practice, there were still a lot of challenges under the Biden administration,” Goettel said. “But it was definitely a different sort of tone and tenor coming from the administration.” 

One key change Malott has seen from the first Trump administration to now is the speed at which the administration is working. With a flurry of executive orders, Malott said it’s too early to tell how the field of immigration law may change during this administration, though it has stoked panic among some of her clients.

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Malott said since Trump took office for the second time, there has been a surge of phone calls and emails that her office has received. 

“All of these enforcement actions and executive orders, it’s just really created a lot of panic in my clients, even for people that, in my opinion, it really wouldn’t affect,” Malott said.

Goettel said that among her concerns for the new Trump administration is that increased interior enforcement may bring with it bureaucratic delays, which she said can have a negative impact on a client’s life if they are waiting for documentation that they are entitled to, like a green card, visa, or naturalization.  

“We saw during the last Trump administration, really long delays in processing those types of applications and petitions, and I am nervous with some of the changes happening with the federal government,” she said. “And with federal employees being let go, that those delays might continue and increase.”

Malott said expedited removals have also historically been enforced within 100 or so miles of the border, however a new executive order will extend this to include the Midwest. These kinds of expedited removals in the Midwest are completely new, Malott said, and she’s concerned that it may impact the due process of law.

Malott said typically, when someone has been arrested in the middle of the U.S., they would have immigration court, and have their case heard by a judge. With expedited removals, Malott said the ICE officers will be in charge of that decision.

Neither Malott nor Goettel anticipate Trump’s plan to remove birthright citizenship will make it through the courts, but Goettel said the rhetoric behind this decision could have negative impacts on all of society.

“I do worry that even raising questions around birthright citizenship creates a conversation around whether people who are born to parents who might be temporary visitors in the United States deserve to be here, and they absolutely do,” Goettel said. “And so that’s my biggest worry right now, what does this rhetoric mean for our culture and our society?”

Going ahead into this administration, Goettel and Malott both said nimbleness and adaptability will be paramount in the field of immigration law.

“I do think there will be more work to do,” Goettel said. “We expect that we will see more people arrested, detained and attempted to be deported, and so that will be more work for all of us.” 

Malott hopes that prosecutorial discretion will remain intact, though she doubts that it will. She also said that she hopes policy makers are consistent and transparent with their immigration rulings, so that she can properly advise her clients. 

Ultimately, Malott said she hopes the U.S. will support immigrants.

“We’ve got a busy four years ahead of us here,” Malott said. “I just hope that we as a country can come together and make the right decisions.”