Transcript of the above video: 

I could have done a more generalized video on the whole issue of Trump's re-election, how this is going to sort of interact with regard to US Immigration from Thailand or US Immigration specifically; I've done general videos in the past. Frankly I expect a ton of people are going to be using this news to make a very similar video. I'm just going to tighten it up and make it kind of specific to what we deal with here in our office on basically a day-to-day basis and that is and those are as the title of this video notes, Immigrant Spouse Visas and Non-Immigrant Spouse Visas like the K-3 as well as Non-Immigrant Visas for fiancés like the K-1 Visa. 

So again, this is kind of a narrowly tailored video to the folks that usually watch my channel and who may be processing their Immigrant, Non-Immigrant Visas out of Southeast Asia or Thailand specifically. That said, I thought of making this video after seeing a recent post on Twitter or X - I guess X is really sort of the name for it moving forward - but there is still this kind of ongoing what is it Twitter – X, but whatever on X. It's from Axios@axios, quoting directly: “Trump will begin operations to deport millions of undocumented immigrants when he starts his term, campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday morning. He'll launch the "largest mass deportation operation" of undocumented immigrants on Day 1.” I have got to be honest with you, Dennis Kucinich who is somebody I otherwise kind of admire on a certain level, he has kind of a left of centre populist gravitas to him, came up with the term as far as I recall or as far as I can remember it is the first time I ever heard it said, this notion of "undocumented immigrants". I hate that term. Look the term of art under the Immigration and Nationality Act is Illegal Aliens. I think we've gotten to the point under the notions of sort of retain State Powers as noted in the US Constitution, I think we're at the point where it can be reasonably argued we're in an invasion. Let's leave that aside and purely talk about it from the standpoint of the Immigration and Nationality Act. We're talking about illegal aliens. There are no undocumented immigrants much the same way I thought it was nonsensical for people to talk about Cannabis as decriminalization here in Thailand. No, it's legalized. It's just the way it is. That's what you're dealing with when you're dealing with somebody who came into the country illegally; they are an illegal alien. They were a criminal from the time they came into the country. Now I know I wouldn't be making a lot of friends or clients in the United States saying that right now because of the situation that it's in but this is what we are talking about. 

I deal with cases from over here in Thailand and quite frankly for the last 4 years, it's been extremely frustrating to watch my clientele basically stand in line dutifully doing things correctly per the law, only to watch again on live video hookup via a million points on social media, all kinds of evidence that there are people just illegally streaming over the border. That being said, what is going to happen? Well first of all, let's be real clear. The current Administration does not change over until January 20th of 2025, so have we got a few more months of probably status quo ante, at least status quo ante November 5th 2024 moving forward, so at least another roughly call it 3 months, or 2 ½  months whatever, of what we have kind of been dealing with. 

Now for those who have been through or are going through the immigration process right now, quite frankly the Biden Administration has been no picnic compared to the Trump Administration. That said, how will this impact things? Well setting aside matters internal to the United States - which I think there are going to be major changes - my hope is unlike the first Trump Administration, they actually do this time at least, recognize there is legitimate legal immigration, especially family members of American citizens, those wanting to bring a fiancé to the United States or a spouse, as well as children and stepchildren to the US. So, any analysis regarding Immigration overall, I'm kind of hoping we can view it through the prism that "hey there is a kind of prioritized level of immigration which is sort of the immediate family of Americans or people that have deep connections to the United States." That being said, what do we know from the first term. Well, a lot of likely administrative and bureaucratic obstacles are probably going to be thrown up. It's going to take a while, as we've discussed in other videos. The first two terms of Trump's initial administration were largely like the prior eight years of Obama; that's how long it takes for major changes to sort of percolate through the bureaucracy. That being said, yeah, I imagine things are going to probably tighten up somewhat with regard to Immigration processing. Is that a particularly good thing? No, not for applicants.

That being said, two things again I'm really hoping the Administration takes into account. One I have already mentioned which is can we maybe not go after folks that are really in my opinion legitimate immigrants to the United States especially where they are going through the legal routes. Secondly, and something I think that really is often overlooked, is quite honestly the unlicensed practice of law associated with US Immigration is something that has just been flagrant for years; we've seen it across the board in the United States. All kinds of people claiming to be able to handle and assist people with US Immigration, they are a big problem too. As I've discussed with regard to Thailand, this inherent corruption at a very fundamental level of the legal system - both in the United States and Thailand - of allowing people who have no right, no qualification, no credentials to be able to do what they say they are doing with regard to these different mechanisms and legal apparatuses. Maybe getting rid of some of those folks would actually go more or a longer way in combatting fraud in the Immigration System than just purely hyperbole and rhetoric.