Unsettled: Immigration in Turbulent Times
Season 2, Episode 3: ‘I’m an Immigration Lawyer. Trump Is Shattering My Clients’ Lives.’
Elora Mukherjee, Jerome L. Greene Clinical Professor Law at Columbia Law School, joins Alex Aleinikoff and Hiroshi Motomura to discuss her December 2025 op-ed in the New York Times, “I’m an Immigration Lawyer. Trump Is Shattering My Clients’ Lives” and the broader context around immigration law in our current moment.
Please note: this episode begins with a discussion of the events in Minneapolis, but was recorded prior to the Janaury 24, 2026 shooting of Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis, MN.
Guest Speaker
Elora Mukherjee
Jerome L. Greene Clinical Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Hosts
Show Notes
Elora Mukherjee, I’m an Immigration Lawyer. Trump Is Shattering My Clients’ Lives, New York Times, Dec. 4, 2025:
November 28, 2025: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services halt to processing “all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals”
November 28, 2025: State Department stop on visas for Afghans
December 2, 2025: USCIS Policy Memorandum holding all asylum applications, holding applications from citizens of 19 “high-risk” countries for immigration “benefits” (including green cards and naturalization applications), and directing USCIS personnel to “conduct a comprehensive re-review of approved benefit requests from citizens of the 19 “high risk” countries who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021.
December 16, 2026: Presidential Proclamation extending entry restrictions and limits to additional 20 countries.
January 14, 2026: pause on all immigrant visas to 75 nationalities at “high risk of public benefits usage.”
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