President-elect Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations has more and more people scrambling.
Many of them are legal residents with a green card who were convicted of a DUI once or of minor drug charges.
"On Day 1 I will launch the largest deportation program in American history," Trump previously said. "You better start packing now."
A legal analyst said the threat is real, and those who might be targeted need to act fast before it's too late.
"It's a scary time and people are worried," legal analyst Steven Clark said.
Legal analysts said the first targets might be undocumented people who committed a crime -- even those who have a green card and got arrested, say, 20 years ago, for minor offenses.
"Even though California state law has recognized that many of these offenses are minor and people have had their record cleared, that's not going to pass for federal law," Clark said.
Outside the Hall of Justice in San Jose, people were reluctant to talk about the topic. One man who did not want to be identified said he was worried because some of his family members were in the crosshairs. He said any land without people cannot move forward and fears what mass deportation will do.
Clark said a record clearance is not enough with the feds.
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"Criminal defense lawyers are now scrambling," he said.
Clark said he has started a legal process with some clients to do what is called "vacate their plea." The process involves approaching the local district attorney to remove a client's guilty plea from 20 years ago if that person has been an upstanding citizen since, especially if the defendant did not realize the immigration consequences at the time of their plea.
"It's important that you not get caught up in the system and be proactive," Clark said. "And look and see if something in your past could hurt you and put you in that scenario."
Clark reiterates that even some legal residents could be in danger since it appears the new administration is taking nothing off the table.
