Maria Kallmeyer Offers Insight on What Trump Immigration Policies Could Mean for Biopharma Workers in BioSpace Article
Maria Kallmeyer, national co-chair of the Quarles & Brady Immigration & Mobility Practice Group, was quoted in a BioSpace article about the potential impact of President-elect Trump’s immigration policies on foreign-born workers in the biopharma industry.
Based in Chicago, Kallmeyer noted that, considering the evidence from Trump’s first term, it likely will take longer to process immigration-related applications and there will be tighter interpretation of the relevant regulations. She also said foreign-born workers who may be traveling in the near future should consider coming back to the United States before the inauguration.
An excerpt:
As Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration draws closer, Kallmeyer had a key piece of advice for foreign-born biopharma professionals: If they’re traveling internationally over the holidays, come back before the president-elect is sworn in. She said that’s for two reasons: the possibility of another travel ban and Trump’s apparent plan for a mass deportation program.
“I don’t think that the deportation piece is targeting this population that we’re talking about, but if the president declares some sort of immigration emergency, that could have much more widespread implications than just illegal immigration,” Kallmeyer said. “And if someone happens to be outside the country at that moment that that’s declared, I’m worried about what that means and whether or not they’ll be able to get in.”