LANTANA, Fla. — One day after Title 42 expired, families are worried the process to file for immigration will take even longer.
"I’m hoping to live a peaceful life with the person I love and the family I want to create," Jack Guastella, the owner of Giacomo's pizza in Lantana, said Friday.
He said his fiancé and her son live in Mexico and filed for them to come to the U.S.
"I want her to do things the right way. I want her to get a license the right way. I want her to get an American passport," Guastella said. "I’ve thought about what it’s going to be like picking them up from the airport. I’m sure it’s going to be very emotional for everybody."
Two years into the process and he said he still no success.
"All the people trying to come in legally are being pushed aside and I don’t think that’s fair," Guastella said. “I want to get them here as fast as possible because I don’t know what’s going to happen now with all the craziness that’s going on at the border, and also look at the country she’s living in.
Guastella’s immigration attorney, Richard Hujber, said with the end of Title 42, he expects there will be an influx of applicants, which will drown what he says is an already flooded system.
Palm Beach County
New Florida law has migrants seeking attorneys' advice in effort to stay
“I’ve got hundreds of cases in my office so not a single asylum case from the Miami asylum office has had any movement or any activity or action for well over two to three years now,” Hujber said.
Hujber said he has eight to 10 new appointments on a daily basis and is preparing to be all hands-on deck situation.
“I don’t want more quantity to make a few more bucks. I want to be able to do work that makes a difference in people’s lives for people that actually have a meritorious case,” Hujber said.
Hujber said despite the hurdles and the backlog, families need to process their immigration the legal way as they’ll be better off in the long run.