Why some green card holders' trepidations are mounting in USA

A Colorado business owner called her immigration attorney in a panic this week, wrestling with a worry she never expected: If she travels abroad for a conference, could she end up getting deported?  A woman from Cameroon who lives in the Midwest made a heartbreaking decision: Flying home for her father's funeral would be too risky, reports CNN.

An immigrant of Palestinian descent cancelled international travel plans - and worried that walking outside their New England home with a keffiyeh they've worn for years might no longer be safe.

And a Canadian tattoo artist who lives in Washington state shared her fears on social media about an upcoming trip across the border.

These four people have never met, and many details of their lives are different. But they share at least one thing in common. They are legal immigrants with green cards - documents deeming them lawful permanent residents of the United States. And they told CNN they're still scared the Trump administration could kick them out of the country.  Immigration lawyer LaToya McBean Pompy says this growing fear is the biggest issue she sees among her clients who have green cards.  "They've never been afraid before," she says, "but today, they're afraid."

About 12.8 million green card holders live in the United States, according to the latest estimates from the Office of Homeland Security Statistics.

And some of them were taken by surprise when authorities detained a former student protest leader at New York's Columbia University earlier this month. Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead the school's student protest movement demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, is married to a US citizen and had a green card.

He isn't facing any criminal charges, but Trump administration officials have accused him of inciting violence and supporting terrorism - claims Khalil's attorneys and supporters deny.

"I think the fact he happened to be a permanent resident underscored the vulnerability of all non-citizens in this country to a lot of people who hadn't thought it through," says David Leopold, an immigration attorney in Ohio and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Leopold says it's not uncommon for green card holders to be detained and deported if they're accused and convicted of certain crimes.

"It's fairly routine," he says, noting that the statute lists offenses such as document fraud, drug offenses and crimes that are deemed "aggravated felonies" in immigration law.