Lincoln law firm partners with nonprofit to secure TPS for migrants before Trump swearing-in

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – With less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, two local organizations are teaming up to guarantee legal status for some immigrants.

For hundreds of immigrant families, temporary protected status, or TPS, is essential for their livelihood.

It allows people from countries that experienced war, natural disasters or other conditions to remain and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation.

But Lincoln-based Polaris Law Group said under the last Trump administration, TPS was threatened, leaving many in limbo about their legal status and ability to work.

“I personally have family that has come from Ukraine, and they are now members of the community here in Lincoln,” said Irina Brown, chief operating officer at Polaris Law Group.

She said allowing them to keep their legal status is “very, very important.”

The law group is working to make sure families have a chance to apply for TPS.

It has teamed up with Orel Alliance, aiming to assist over 100 families from Ukraine, El Salvador and Sudan.

The executive director of Orel, Amanda Hall, said immigrants want to work here.

“They don’t want to rely on public benefits or the generosity of others; they want to pull their weight,” she said. “Especially in Nebraska, some of them have been filling up jobs that, quite frankly, have been sitting forever because no one else will take them.”

The law firm’s goal is clear: to help as many families as possible to secure their futures in the U.S.

It is planning to set up emergency TPS clinics in Omaha and eventually in Lincoln.

Polaris hopes to ease the burden on immigrant families who might not have access to other legal resources.

“And as an immigrant myself and going through the process myself and mostly coming from an immigrant family and having been an immigrant attorney for almost two decades now, I do believe I want to help the community as much as I can, so it’s just something that came together,” said Tasha Afkhamnejad, the lead immigration attorney at Polaris.

Hall said this is a start, but something needs to be done on the national level.

“I think the broader question is when do we offer a legal path toward if not citizenship, longer term residents with the ability to work and pay taxes and contribute to the community in the United States.”