WHO WILL BE THERE WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU? OUR INTERVIEW WITH IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY NORA MILNER

By Alexander J Schorr

May 19, 2025 (San Diego) -- East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery interviewed Nora Milner, an immigration attorney based in San Diego. This interview originally aired April 4 on KNJS radio, with a Youtube video available. Milner, who works at the Milner & Markee (LLP) law firm, specializes in immigration law.

In the interview, she voiced alarm over blatant denials of due process for immigrants under the Trump administration, warned that even citizens are not safe, and offered tips for those concerned about being visited by ICE or detained for potential deportation.

Immigrants denied due process

Under the Trump administration, there has been a massive crackdown on legal and illegal immigration, with even those of protected status being targeted due to racial and ethnic association or allegiance. Nora Milner highlights that the biggest change to the immigration and by extension, the legal landscape, is the lack of due-process. “The constitution provides due-process to anyone who is in the United States, regardless of their immigration status,” she said.

Milner stated that prior to Donald Trump taking the office of presidency, clients, be they legal immigrants or otherwise, who end up detained, had the right to see an immigration judge and access programs such as “Cancelation of Removal” in the court, available to individuals who have lived in the country for ten years, have established citizenry, or have family here, and are able to garner a path to legal residency.

“Today it’s the complete lack of due-process,” Milner asserted. “Most ICE officers have a quota of about 700 arrests— we believe, to the best of our knowledge— that’s a monthly quota. ICE officers do not meet their quota. They are reprimanded by their supervisor, so there is a huge push to target any individual, regardless of their status. We have many individuals here in the United States today who have temporary protective status.”

All individuals who are either parents of U.S. citizens, spouses of U.S. citizens, or minor unmarried children under age 21 are technically eligible for residency within 90 days. But Milner said this general rule for immigration “has been swept away” under the Trump administration.

“Every due-process--right to hearing, right to counsel, right to challenge the evidence before them, right to cross-examine witnesses-- all of the rights that are sacred have been taken away from them, and the sad part is that— in reality— nobody is safe at this moment,” she warns. “Anyone could be swept up in a raid, including US citizens.”

According to Milner,“Profiling is probably the biggest violation of the Fourth Amendment.” She faults unethical racial profiling  of people by ICE to conduct arrests, as well as invasion of privacy, even while the Fourth Amendment protects people against unreasonable search and seizures. “Just because you’re walking out of a 7-Eleven and you happen to look Hispanic does not mean that you’ve committed a crime,” she made clear.

What should immigrants know?

Milner gave direct advice to undocumented persons facing antagonism and threats from ICE. An undocumented person can carry a red card, which is a small hand-held document that lists their rights in both English and Spanish. She gives these out to those who arrive for consultations. The red card gives them quick access to their rights.

She advises that if ICE comes to a person’s door at home, “The agents do not have the right to open  the door... If ICE says that they have a warrant, it must be a federal warrant, not an administrative warrant prepared by ICE, and it must be a warrant signed by a federal judge, generally for the commission of a crime.”

Additionally, Milner advises those facing scrutiny, “ICE can pass the warrant under the door for the individual to look at.”  The immigrant does not have to open the door. “If they open the door, then clearly they’ve waived those rights.” If a person is detained on the streets or outside his or her home,the individual should “remain silent, make no comments, [and] refuse to sign any paperwork.”

However, if  the situation goes from being detained to actually arrested, then the individual must present evidence that he or she have been in the United States for at least twi years, hopefully preventing immediate expulsion.

Milner said “evidence” can be anything from a “letter from their pastor” to a “utility bill.”  She advises against presenting a birth or marriage certificate, or anything that provides personal information. If a person is taken into detention, this evidence should extend the timeframe to allow the person to get an immigration lawyer and an audience with a judge.

Milner took aim at the Trump administration directly. “The attitude of the administration is to shoot first and ask questions later, so unfortunately, we can only advise our clients of their rights and then prepare them and arm them as best we can to understand their rights.”

She advises concerned individuals to carry their permanent residency card, and if someone has a temporary protected status, also carry a copy of their TPS approval notice. If the person has filed for residency or some other benefit, then they should carry an I-797-C form, which is a receipt from the government that is proof of an effort to legalize, and in most cases, is sufficient to delay the government long enough so that the person cannot be removed without a due-process.

President Trump has recently ordered that all undocumented immigrants must register with the federal government or face serious penalties in addition to fines and criminal charges; some migrants have even deported to a prison in El Salvador. So should people register?  This poses a real ethical dilemma, because in doing so, these threatened individuals make it easier for ICE to find and potentially deport them.

Milner acknowledges that in walking this thin “ethical line,” it is an “almost damned-if you do, damned if you don’t process.” She notes that she and other immigration lawyers cannot advise potential clients not to follow the Amnesty Program, which is federal law, and this is doubly difficult with the Trump administration even threatening lawyers and law firms.

“Because we are very careful discussing these cases,” her firm has not faced litigation over this. But Milner expressed concern over retaliation from the Trump administration targeting immigration attorneys, even deterring legal avenues for people residing in the US to garner civil rights and protections as guaranteed under the constitution.

Citizens and travelers face risks

A point of concern is the SENTRI trusted traveler program for travelers entering the U.S. from Mexico or Canada, and recent rates of decline in applications. Some visitors even from Europe and Canada have recently been shackled, stripped and detained for minor visa violations that customarily would have been handled far differently.

Trump has said he would like to deport some U.S.citizens to foreign prisons, such as criminals—a prospect that has raised alarm among civil rights advocates  and constitutional scholars. 

Concerns have also been raised over other global travel programs in which U.S. citizens applying for travel were denied. Raftery gave an example of how the federal government has come to penalize American citizens due to occupations. She recalled applying for a Global Reentry Card during the first Trump administration. After being grilled over her livelihood as a journalist and asked if she covered immigration issued, she was told that her application was not approved because she didn’t have proof that a car totaled by her insurance agency years earlier was no longer owned by her. Agents demanded proof from the DMV, which was closed at the time due to the COVID pandemic. Yet the same car was co-owned by Raftery’s husband, whose application had been approved with no questions,

“I had to get my Congressperson and my state legislator involved to get them proof from the DMV that this car had been [totaled]” and get the application approved.  “It was really disturbing to me and obviously I was born here,” said Raftery. ”I've been a citizen my whole life, so that could happen to me, it could happen to anybody.”

Lawyers fear retaliation

Milner expressed that she and others are “concerned for our safety, and concerned for the safety of our families.” She added, “We were very dismayed that this administration would target us for trying to do our job. We’re not working against anybody. We are trying to uphold what we believe are the rights that are inherent in our system.”

Raftery noted that such threats and intimidation are “tactics of an authoritarian regime...not what one would expect in a democracy.”

Solutions for immigrant workers

Milner noted that immigrants provided needed services, including caregivers for seniors and more.  “Sadly, our country has turned its back on this desperate need for this caregiver industry,” she said. 

 “We can easily resolve that dilemma by creating a non-immigrant visa for these individuals to have the ability to legalize here, work lawfully, pay into the Social Security system, pay taxes,” Milner noted. But because of the callousness of ICE and the actions of the Trump administration, she concluded, the federal government is now  at odds with people it is supposed to protect.

If Americans don’t speak out against unlawful detention or deportation of immigrants and even green card holders without due process, or for the rights of attorneys, journalists, educators, and protesters being targeted for intimidation or retaliation, the question looms: who will speak up if they come for you?