Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us now, Kate Lincoln Goldfinch, who's an immigration attorney
and also to be here to talk about this situation
with a government shutdown, and apparently now not only is
it affecting those that are obviously furloughed, right, but also
this ripple effect may start really jumping in on all
of us as well. So, Kate, welcome in, thanks for.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Being here, good morning, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So I would imagine in all of this, you know,
as we're trying to get immigration figured out around this
country and stop the illegals from coming in and build
border security, there's the other side of the coin on
immigration and reform and trying to get some things done
to make the process a little bit better for those
that want to come in here and legally do it.
We're not anti immigration the government, and I think US
(00:42):
citizens are anti illegal immigration and certainly run a muck
over the last four years with a Biden administration. But now,
you know, with this government shutdown, I guess a lot
of that's come to a screeching halt as well.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Sure, I mean the government shutdown is interesting within the
realm of immigration because as US Citizenship and Immigration Services
is funded by the fees that the immigrants pay primarily,
So a lot of those petitions will continue going forward,
and the immigration courts keep going forward, DHS and ICE
and CBP.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
All of the law enforcement keeps going forward.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
But a lot of the cases that are employment immigration
that rely upon the Department of Labor or companies that
use everify H ONEBV says things like that are on
hold because of the DOL. And this is at a
time when we need immigrant labor more than ever. Just yesterday,
the Department of Labor published a rule saying we're at
(01:39):
we're about to see shock induced food shortages in this
country because of the.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Immigration enforcement that has gone on.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So things are pretty dangerous and messy within the realm
of immigration.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And to your.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Point, we do need to expand legal immigration and stop
this crackdown on all the methods of legal immigration that
we do have in this country.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
It's really important for our economy.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
It takes long time to do it, and it's expensive
to do it as well. But you know, everybody that
I've talked to that has come to this country and
gone through the process, I would say ninety nine percent
of them are infuriated with all the illegals that are
here grabbing jobs. I mean, in your practice, and it
is an immigration attorney, you know, where are you on
(02:23):
these illegals versus the legals that are coming in you're
into this country. I understand we need the workers to
come in here, and there are a lot of people
that want to better their lives in the United States
of America. But in your practice and what you're dealing with,
where do where do most of your cases, if you will,
or most concerns end up every day?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
You know, I think this thing about we're all for
legal immigration and we want to crack down on illegal
immigration is a bit of a distraction and a lie,
And I think it's really important that we pay attention
to that because if you look at Trump's policies over
the last six months, he started by attacking birthright citizenship
in this country. Then they started going after naturalized citizens.
(03:06):
They've gone after permanent residents. They've revoked and canceled student visas,
They've canceled temporary protected status. Dreamers in Texas are about
to lose their work permission. People who are showing up
for their legal court appointments and their eyes check ins
are getting detained and separated from their families. I'm in
the ground. I'm on the ground with these families visiting
(03:26):
their homes when their loved ones have been taken from them.
It's real and it's happening, and these are people that
are following the legal process.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So I think it's really important.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I know it's hard to keep up with what all
of these policy changes are.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It's like my full time job now, so I understand it.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
But the reality of the situation is that the Trump
administration is not going after just illegal immigration or criminals.
They are going after legal immigration, and we are really
starting to feel the effects of that on our economy
in various sectors. It's not just agriculture and food shortage.
It's in innovation and entrepreneurship and stem and the things
(04:03):
that make us a country of progress, and we are
really losing out on opportunity.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Because of these policies.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So I think that's the conversation that we need to
be having, not you know, buying this sort of rhetoric
hook line and seeker that the thinker that there's you know,
millions of immigrants coming in and taking jobs. It's just
actually not the reality. We need an immigrant workforce in
this country.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
I completely understand that, and I am with you to
a point where that if people are here and they're
in the process of getting citizenship, and they have visas
or they have work permits or whatever is allowing them
to be here, if they're in the process of trying
to get that citizenship, I don't think they should be
messed with. I agree with that, but I do not
(04:47):
agree with the fact that if you're here illegally. Obviously,
if you're a criminal, you got to go. But even
if you're here illegally and you're not trying to do
anything and you're trying to hide under the radar and
you don't want to go through the process for whatever reason,
that's a problem to me.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, you know, I agree with you, and I would
argue that I've been doing this for twenty years working
with immigrants in Texas. The vast majority of the undocumented
population is desperate to come out of the shadows.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
The vast majority of them are just hard working family
people that would.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Gladly come forward, pay a fine, get legal status, and
have a future for themselves. But when we have an
administration that dehumanizes these people and tells them we don't
care about you. We'll take you away from your children,
we'll put your children in foster care, we'll pick you
up at the courthouse. When you're trying to do things
the right way. Naturally, the response and the reaction from
(05:41):
this population is fear, and they do want to go
into hiding because look what happens when they don't. And
so I think that the response from our government needs
to be we understand there's this undocumented population that exists
in this country from policies of the past, and it
is the reality many many millions of people here who
(06:01):
don't have legal status, and most of them are hard working.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So what do we do about it?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Do we want to have a system that keeps them
in the shadows and subjugates them.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
No, it doesn't till long.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Look, yeah, I get I hear what you're saying here,
but you know, you look around the world in immigration
situations in other countries here and those that don't have
enforcement going on with the way they handle immigration, they're
a hot mess just like we are right now. So
I agree that there's some reform and changes need to
be made for folks, but I also I'm a law
and order guy. And if you're you're coming into this
(06:34):
country and you know you're here illegally, then there's consequences
to pay for that. So whether that's you get you know,
two years to be able to get in line to
make it happen, you know, But as you know they've
said in the Trump administration, you know, if you self
deport you're going to be in much better shape. And
if we have to come get you and get you
out of here so you know, come back through the
(06:57):
line that you know allows you to be here legally.
So you know, I'm with you on trying to make
some changes to make things smoother and better. But I'm
also in favor of you know, we have federal immigration laws.
They need to be upheld.
Joining us now, Kate Lincoln Goldfinch, who's an immigration attorney
and also to be here to talk about this situation
with a government shutdown, and apparently now not only is
it affecting those that are obviously furloughed, right, but also
this ripple effect may start really jumping in on all
of us as well. So, Kate, welcome in, thanks for.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Being here, good morning, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So I would imagine in all of this, you know,
as we're trying to get immigration figured out around this
country and stop the illegals from coming in and build
border security, there's the other side of the coin on
immigration and reform and trying to get some things done
to make the process a little bit better for those
that want to come in here and legally do it.
We're not anti immigration the government, and I think US
(00:42):
citizens are anti illegal immigration and certainly run a muck
over the last four years with a Biden administration. But now,
you know, with this government shutdown, I guess a lot
of that's come to a screeching halt as well.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Sure, I mean the government shutdown is interesting within the
realm of immigration because as US Citizenship and Immigration Services
is funded by the fees that the immigrants pay primarily,
So a lot of those petitions will continue going forward,
and the immigration courts keep going forward, DHS and ICE
and CBP.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
All of the law enforcement keeps going forward.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
But a lot of the cases that are employment immigration
that rely upon the Department of Labor or companies that
use everify H ONEBV says things like that are on
hold because of the DOL. And this is at a
time when we need immigrant labor more than ever. Just yesterday,
the Department of Labor published a rule saying we're at
(01:39):
we're about to see shock induced food shortages in this
country because of the.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Immigration enforcement that has gone on.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So things are pretty dangerous and messy within the realm
of immigration.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And to your.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Point, we do need to expand legal immigration and stop
this crackdown on all the methods of legal immigration that
we do have in this country.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
It's really important for our economy.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
It takes long time to do it, and it's expensive
to do it as well. But you know, everybody that
I've talked to that has come to this country and
gone through the process, I would say ninety nine percent
of them are infuriated with all the illegals that are
here grabbing jobs. I mean, in your practice, and it
is an immigration attorney, you know, where are you on
(02:23):
these illegals versus the legals that are coming in you're
into this country. I understand we need the workers to
come in here, and there are a lot of people
that want to better their lives in the United States
of America. But in your practice and what you're dealing with,
where do where do most of your cases, if you will,
or most concerns end up every day?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
You know, I think this thing about we're all for
legal immigration and we want to crack down on illegal
immigration is a bit of a distraction and a lie,
And I think it's really important that we pay attention
to that because if you look at Trump's policies over
the last six months, he started by attacking birthright citizenship
in this country. Then they started going after naturalized citizens.
(03:06):
They've gone after permanent residents. They've revoked and canceled student visas,
They've canceled temporary protected status. Dreamers in Texas are about
to lose their work permission. People who are showing up
for their legal court appointments and their eyes check ins
are getting detained and separated from their families. I'm in
the ground. I'm on the ground with these families visiting
(03:26):
their homes when their loved ones have been taken from them.
It's real and it's happening, and these are people that
are following the legal process.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So I think it's really important.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I know it's hard to keep up with what all
of these policy changes are.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It's like my full time job now, so I understand it.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
But the reality of the situation is that the Trump
administration is not going after just illegal immigration or criminals.
They are going after legal immigration, and we are really
starting to feel the effects of that on our economy
in various sectors. It's not just agriculture and food shortage.
It's in innovation and entrepreneurship and stem and the things
(04:03):
that make us a country of progress, and we are
really losing out on opportunity.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Because of these policies.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So I think that's the conversation that we need to
be having, not you know, buying this sort of rhetoric
hook line and seeker that the thinker that there's you know,
millions of immigrants coming in and taking jobs. It's just
actually not the reality. We need an immigrant workforce in
this country.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
I completely understand that, and I am with you to
a point where that if people are here and they're
in the process of getting citizenship, and they have visas
or they have work permits or whatever is allowing them
to be here, if they're in the process of trying
to get that citizenship, I don't think they should be
messed with. I agree with that, but I do not
(04:47):
agree with the fact that if you're here illegally. Obviously,
if you're a criminal, you got to go. But even
if you're here illegally and you're not trying to do
anything and you're trying to hide under the radar and
you don't want to go through the process for whatever reason,
that's a problem to me.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, you know, I agree with you, and I would
argue that I've been doing this for twenty years working
with immigrants in Texas. The vast majority of the undocumented
population is desperate to come out of the shadows.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
The vast majority of them are just hard working family
people that would.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Gladly come forward, pay a fine, get legal status, and
have a future for themselves. But when we have an
administration that dehumanizes these people and tells them we don't
care about you. We'll take you away from your children,
we'll put your children in foster care, we'll pick you
up at the courthouse. When you're trying to do things
the right way. Naturally, the response and the reaction from
(05:41):
this population is fear, and they do want to go
into hiding because look what happens when they don't. And
so I think that the response from our government needs
to be we understand there's this undocumented population that exists
in this country from policies of the past, and it
is the reality many many millions of people here who
(06:01):
don't have legal status, and most of them are hard working.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So what do we do about it?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Do we want to have a system that keeps them
in the shadows and subjugates them.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
No, it doesn't till long.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Look, yeah, I get I hear what you're saying here,
but you know, you look around the world in immigration
situations in other countries here and those that don't have
enforcement going on with the way they handle immigration, they're
a hot mess just like we are right now. So
I agree that there's some reform and changes need to
be made for folks, but I also I'm a law
and order guy. And if you're you're coming into this
(06:34):
country and you know you're here illegally, then there's consequences
to pay for that. So whether that's you get you know,
two years to be able to get in line to
make it happen, you know, But as you know they've
said in the Trump administration, you know, if you self
deport you're going to be in much better shape. And
if we have to come get you and get you
out of here so you know, come back through the
(06:57):
line that you know allows you to be here legally.
So you know, I'm with you on trying to make
some changes to make things smoother and better. But I'm
also in favor of you know, we have federal immigration laws.
They need to be upheld.
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