It's a sun-soaked Saturday, and the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express in Palm Desert is packed with an unlikely crowd. Instead of the usual slew of business travelers and middle-aged men in cargo shorts and golf hats, the chairs and benches are filled with families and couples, most of them Latino, anxiously waiting for their names to be called.

After receiving a number of requests from local residents, staff of L.A.-based law firm Telleria, Telleria & Levy came to the Coachella Valley to host an immigration clinic. About a quarter of Coachella Valley residents were born outside the U.S., in individual towns like Coachella and Mecca that number goes up to 40% and 52%, respectively. Yet legal resources for immigrants in the valley can be hard to find.

For immigrants, including green card holders and applicants, legal advice is crucial in assuring they maintain their legal status, file applications correctly and know which immigration programs apply to them.

One of those waiting in the Holiday Inn lobby for legal advice was Alberto Nuñez, 48, from Indio.

About 15 years ago, Nuñez came to the U.S. from his hometown of Mexicali, just across the border form Calexico, California. At the time, he did not have permission to stay in the U.S. for an extended period of time.

Fifteen years later, Nuñez has built a life in Indio, detailing cars for a living. He got married and started a family, his son is now five years old. He's the reason Nuñez came, hoping to start the long process of fixing his immigration status.

"He's really sharp. He likes music. He has a piano that he's constantly playing on," he described his son in Spanish. "He's very special."

Nuñez' son has autism. As a father, he is worried about his child's well-being. As an immigrant, he is worried he might not be around to look after him.

"More than anything, I'm doing it for him," Nuñez said, coming back to his 5-year-old. "He's learning, but he struggles with a lot of things. The point is: he's the important person right here."

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, announcing his administration's immigration enforcement "principles and priorities," vastly expanding the priorities for identifying and deporting unauthorized immigrants beyond the previous focus on those who have been convicted of criminal offenses.

The current administration's focus on immigration has sparked fear among immigrants, causing surge in people seeking out help and attempting to attain legal status.

For organizations providing assistance to immigrants, the change is palpable. "We're in a completely different reality," said Luz Gallegos, community programs director at TODEC – Training Occupational Development Educating Communities – legal center. The organization is headquartered in Perris, and opened its Coachella offices in February of this year. "Especially after the Trump administration, it had been a high priority for us to open a site here," Gallegos said.

Fear of deportation in the immigrant community has increased dramatically. Gallegos remembers the panic that went around at the beginning of the year. Local grocery stores with a focus on Latin American products like Cardenas called TODEC and complained about a drop in sales as customers steered clear, out of fear that immigration enforcement might pick them up in the parking lot, Gallegos said.

For Alberto Nuñez, it's not his own future he is worried about if he's deported to Mexico. "I'm from there, so if they send me there, I think I will survive. But what about him?" Nuñez asked, worried that his son might grow up without a father.

After visiting a local attorney, he didn't feel confident putting his case in their hands, worried that they were trying to overcharge him. Immigration cases can become costly. The paperwork necessary to apply for a green card currently costs about $1700 in filing fees alone. Adding a lawyer to the bill can easily bring up the price to several thousand dollars, which often exceeds the budget of many working class immigrants.

"There are a lot of immigration attorneys, but it all comes with a fee. Most of our farmworkers live paycheck to paycheck," Gallegos said.

Telleria, Telleria & Levy doesn't provide pro bono or heavily discounted immigration services, but prices are negotiable on a case by case basis and the firm offers payment plans, said Robert Sanchez, the firm's operation manager.

Most importantly, said Sanchez, events like the one in Palm Desert help people get an honest assessment of their options, to see whether their situation will qualify them for any legal relief regarding their immigration status. All potential clients go through a phone interview first, to check whether their case is likely to succeed.

"We're not going to tell someone that they qualify just to take their money, when they don't," Sanchez said. "We're going to be a hundred percent honest with them and tell them it's not going to happen."

Because of their legal and financial vulnerability, immigrants often fall victim to fraud as they're willing to pay whatever they can to improve their legal status. In the 10 years that TODEC has been active in the valley, fraudulent immigration assistance has been an ongoing issue, according to Luz Gallegos. The organization is planning to release a vetted list of resources from mental health to legal representation in January.

More:After being found guilty of fraud, a Cathedral City immigration consultant is deported

"We need to make sure that they're not going to take advantage of them, that they're affordable, that they're able to do pro bono and so on," Gallegos explained. "We have to connect the dots for our community."

There are a lot of qualified immigration attorneys in the Coachella Valley, Gallegos said, but small legal offices often lack the financial resources to promote their services or offer discounted or free services to those in need.

Most of the people waiting in the Holiday Inn Express lobby in Palm Desert had heard about the immigration clinic on Facebook or one of the Spanish-language radio stations in the area. For nonprofits, community outreach can be a lot more challenging.

TODEC mostly relies on volunteers and some community leaders to help spread the word, many times by walking door-to-door. The organization stopped using social media to promote their events, after anti-immigrant groups took note and began showing up to events in an attempt to intimidate attendees. Radio and TV advertisements cost money, and financial resources are stretched for nonprofits that are trying to put most of their budget into their services.

More:As students fear deportation, a nonprofit teaches high schoolers about immigration rights

"We have to find different ways because we don't have the deep pockets that maybe these law firms have," Gallegos pointed out.

"If there's a gap in services, those workshops are a good thing to have," said Gallagos of the recent event in Palm Desert. In the long run, her organization is hoping to make immigrants more aware of the services available to them on a local level, and create a stronger network of attorneys and nonprofits to assure these services are as accessible as possible.

The rescission of DACA and several programs offering temporary protected status (TPS) to immigrants from Honduras, Sudan and Haiti have shown that immigration policy can change almost over night, altering the lives of tens of thousands of immigrants, and leaving many scrambling for alternatives. Assisting DACA recipients with filing fees for their last chance at renewal almost entirely wiped out TODEC's emergency funds.

"As we continue with this path, with this new administration, who knows what's going to happen next year," Gallegos said.