Trump on Immigration: Expert gives unique perspective on what could happen day one

NEW YORK (WABC) -- On day one, President-elect Donald Trump said he's going to crack down on illegal immigration.

Trump and his team haven't given many specifics as to exactly how they're going to go about doing that, but a former prosecutor is sharing her unique perspective on what she believes could happen.

As a daughter of immigrants, Veronica Cardenas knows firsthand what it's like to struggle and build a better life.

"Growing up, I always had this desire to do more, to be more," said Cardenas.

She now works as an attorney representing undocumented immigrants who are trying to become legal citizens. Before that, she worked on the other side of the courtroom as an ICE prosecutor.

"It was very, very heartbreaking," she said. "It was definitely overwhelming, there were so many cases. The courtrooms were overflowing with people where judges literally had to tell people to go outside, do not go into the courtroom."

Cardenas worked for the last three presidents, starting with former President Barack Obama.

"When I first started under the Obama administration, there was wide latitude to make decisions that felt right and were in accordance of the law," said Cardenas. "The decisions felt more just. When President Trump stepped into office it was a one-size-fits-all policy for everyone -- from the person who committed crimes, to the father, to the mother to the child."

Cardenas said she did not experience a stark change once President Joe Biden was elected.

"President Biden tried to roll back but the inhumanity of the system, the way it changed during his four years never changed and went back to the way it was before him," she said.

She believes a few changes will take place once the president-elect is inaugurated.

"Number one, most people are going to be detained at the border when they're coming through, right now there are exceptions," she said.

She believes not only will more people be detained and turned away at the border instead of traveling to places like the Tri-State before facing a judge, she believes the process will move more quickly.

"Right now an asylum case can take three to five years," she said. "I think what Trump is going to do and what he did in the first instance was when people ask for more time to find a lawyer, it's going to be no, we're going to keep your case going because we have to keep this moving."

She said noncitizens who have been arrested for crimes or having pending removal orders are already a priority for the government and will continue to be under President Trump.

ICE records show more than 4,600 noncitizens have been arrested in the New York City area last year.

More than 139,000 non-citizens in the state of New York have final removal orders pending.

"My number one concern is that people get a fair hearing and to do that, a lot of things have to change," said Cardenas. "Judges are not independent, they have to follow the attorney general and the president's rule and that means every fours there are policy changes."

"Under Trump, as a trial attorney, I didn't even have to say anything, I just needed to be in that spot to show a presence of the government, the law was already written and their cases were already decided before they even sat before the judge and made their pleas," said Cardenas.

There are more than 11 million noncitizens in the U.S. and the federal government said they don't have the resources to apprehend all of them.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sets priorities. The current administration says it targets those who pose a threat to national security or public safety and they receive their legal due process. As for how that policy could change, the Department of Homeland Security told Eyewitness News to reach out to the president-elect's transition team which hasn't responded.

ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson said in a statement:

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations intelligence driven operations target public safety threats, such as criminal noncitizens and gang members, who have violated our nation's immigration laws, including those who illegally re-enter the country after being removed and immigration fugitives ordered removed by federal immigration judges. ERO Officers prioritize enforcement actions in accordance with the Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law issued by Secretary Mayorkas on Sept. 30, 2021, and reinstituted on June 28 - obtaining and reviewing entire criminal and administrative records and any other investigative information available, when taking decisive law enforcement actions.

Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice and is separate from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case. ERO officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges."

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