In case you didn’t know, immigrants and visitors to the US are under attack by the present administration–even green card holders, so it’s important to know your rights.

One green card holder was protesting at his college, exercising his 1st amendment rights and is currently held in detention by ICE. He has a pregnant wife and has not yet been released.

Others in the US on valid tourist visa have been picked up, held for months and then deported. Some of these detainees report seeing other men and women being held without attorneys and no one to help them for months in detainment centers.

Here are the rules for visitors and immigrants, even those with green cards:

1. No social media, no blogging, delete all accounts. No activism, no protesting anything. Do not join or become a member of any organization, especially those of a political nature. If you receive emails from any political groups, delete those emails and email accounts. Your phone is subject to inspection by Border Patrol. Get a burner phone if you must cross the border. Let an US citizen keep your phone if they will not be subject to inspection. Or send your phone by international courier. If you have immigration visa(s) pending, USCIS may ask for those social media/blog account ID’s and passwords, either in a request or at an interview. Delete all that nonsense, it’s not worth it. Of course, anything public should be immediately deleted. But remember always there are nightly webcrawlers that permanently record all that stuff, so see if you can get past posts deleted from those sites.
2. Get cameras and put them on your front and back doors. Do not answer the door for any strangers. Use a rape chain or slider lock if someone claims to have a valid warrant. Remember, warrants signed by immigration officials are ineffective and you do not have to comply. Do not open the door if the authority says they have a valid warrant. Once the door is opened, while this is illegal, they may put a foot across the threshold and force their way in. That’s why use of a slider lock or rape chain is crucial or have them slip the warrant under the door. If there are others in the house, have them turn on cell phones to record. Try to record live on Facebook/Youtube and warn your friends to upload. If the authorities ask you to delete, upload instead. Keep open all laptops and computers in the house and upload live to Facebook/Youtube. If you are arrested, post to social media. Get your friends and family present to post/upload live also. Get plenty of active friends on Fb/YT who may be on line to upload or download any interactions with the authorities. If they see an arrest or search on FB/YT, ask them to immediately download it because the authorities may later delete it.
3. Try to get a job with a private area and make sure your employer will protect you. If ICE enters your place of work, do not run, do not hide, but walk to your car and leave. Your employer should get all immigrants to a private area and ask ICE to leave and not further answer any questions. They have no real police power. Only a warrant signed by a state or federal court judge is effective and can be enforced.
4. Absolutely no arrests. For sure no convictions. Get an attorney to get all convictions off your record, if at all possible.
5. It is now advised that even green card holders should not travel outside the US. You might not be able to come back.
6. If you are detained, review the prior post, Shut the F*** Up and practice it with friends and family. ICE may pressure you into surrendering your green card or sign form I-407. Don’t do it. They cannot make you surrender your green card. They do not have that authority. Just repeat you are invoking your right to remain silent and you want to call your attorney. If they ask you to do anything or go anywhere, just say “I object for the record.” Your attorney cannot help you if you do not object. If the authority asks to search you, your person or property, just respond “I object for the record”.
   As in the military, name, rank and serial number only. For you, name, address and drivers license only. Say and show nothing else. In some states, you do not even need to show your driver’s license or passport unless there is “reasonable suspicion” or “probable cause”, so get educated on interactions with state authorities.
7. If detained, repeatedly ask to call your attorney. If stopped, constantly ask if you can leave, and if they say you can leave, do so quickly. Don’t hang around, and don’t come back.
8. If you are undocumented, get documented. The fastest way to a green card is to marry an US citizen or green card holder. The fastest visa is a fiancé visa. This means the immigrant comes to the US on a tourist visa and they must wait 90 days to file the fiancé visa form and get married. After 90 days in the US on a tourist visa you are allowed to change your mind, file the fiancé visa and get married and the green card will come quickly. If the immigrant is already in the US, marry a US citizen or green card holder. The marriage must be bona fide or genuine and you must live with that spouse, share a lease or deed, and a bank account and finances. You must sleep in the same house or apartment every night. If you have children together, that is a huge help to your visa application. You can also join the US military and can have US citizenship in a year or two. If you are married, apply for citizenship after 3 years. Otherwise you have to wait 5 years. If your visa application is lingering, you or your attorney can file a “Request to Expedite”.
9. An immigrant with a green card can also sponsor an immediate relative with an I-130: parent, child, spouse or sibling.
10. After you submit your immigrant visa application, you should receive a receipt in about 6 to 8 weeks. Asylum applications are taking longer, 10 to 12 weeks. If you do not receive a receipt and any check was not cashed or credit card charged (about 2 weeks), resubmit the entire package with a letter explaining the original submission may have been lost. Your receipt is critical and if stopped by ICE or Border Patrol, that receipt number should save you from detainment/deportation proceedings. Keep your visa application receipt with you at all times. Remember, name, address and receipt number only. Say nothing else to the authorities.
11. Many immigrants have US born citizen children. Your citizen child over age 21 can sponsor you. Conversely, a citizen with a foreign born child unmarried, under age 21 can be sponsored by a citizen/green card parent. If paternity was not established and the parents were not married at the time of birth, a paternity test will be required for citizen/green card fathers.
12. You are allowed to have multiple applications pending at the same time–I-130 or sponsorship by citizen spouse, U visa, TPS, etc. If one falls thru that will save you from the dreaded NTA or Notice to Appear (for deportation/removal proceedings).
13. Asylum applicants can come to the US and then have up to a year to submit their Asylum application. This is because if your life is in danger, you can come right away.
14. What if you can’t find an US citizen to marry and you qualify under no other programs? Leave the US and re enter on a student visa. Take at least 12 hours of classes twice per year. Any courses will qualify, including ESL or English as a Second Language, art, sports or PE (physical education), dance, etc. If you need to work do an OTP. Look for an employer to sponsor your green card. Community college courses qualify.
15. Sign up for and watch carefully all the immigration attorney videos on You Tube. The Brad Show, McBean Immigration, Legal Eagle, etc. More changes are coming, and not all of them good.
16. Don’t forget there is a visa lottery every year. Here is this year’s information:
17. Check the results for all applicants for the DV Lottery.
18. Results for the 2025 DV Lottery are available from May 4, 2024 to September 30, 2025.
19. Results for the 2026 DV Lottery will be available from May 3, 2025 to at least September 30, 2026.
20. Important caveat to Visa Lottery Program: The Diversity Visa (DV) or Green Card Lottery allows individuals from certain countries who meet education or work requirements to obtain a green card through a lottery. Undocumented immigrants typically cannot benefit from winning the lottery because they have violated immigration law by being present in the U.S. Accordingly, get documented. Important Note:If you are already in the US on a tourist visa and win the lottery, you will need to apply for an immigrant visa through consular processing outside of the US. 
21. If you are in the US on a tourist visa, you can generally extend those 6 months which will give you time to get an immigration visa application on file. Do not file for immigration status until you have been in the US for at least 90 days, then you are allowed to change your mind. Canadian citizens have even more options and may be able to stay indefinitely under certain terms and conditions.
22. Remember US immigration laws are complex, technical and confusing. Even John Oliver had to admit that by using an immigration attorney you can double your chances of being approved by USCIS. And he generally says horrible things about lawyers, which of course are often deserved.
23. Good luck and stay safe

Now here are the videos that prompted this post.

Canada, UK, Germany and other European countries have issued travel advisories to the US

Germany issues travel advisory to US

Valid green card holders are asked to surrender their green cards at the US border and are being denied admission, some for many months

Legal Eagle: Defendant declares many foreign nationals terrorists without due process

Legal Eagle: Defendant deports legal green card holder on student visa for protesting him on campus

Horror stories from ICE/USCIS taking away green cards without due process.