Immigration-Related Policy Changes in the First Two Years of the Trump Administration
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Highlights
During the first half of its first term, the Trump administration pursued a broad immigration agenda primarily through executive action.
- The administration deployed a sweeping enforcement agenda, broadening interior removal priorities, expanding the 287(g) program, and quadrupling worksite investigations in fiscal year (FY) 2018.
- Refugee admissions fell to record lows, with a ceiling of 30,000 in FY 2019. The administration also restricted asylum eligibility and curtailed immigration judges' discretion.
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the State Department increased vetting, slowed adjudications, and reduced legal pathways—including attempting to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and limiting Temporary Protected Status designations.
- All major changes were executed unilaterally through policy memos and regulatory action, as Congress took no significant immigration legislation during this period.
Since entering office in January 2017, the Trump administration has pressed one of the most assertive agendas on immigration in modern times. And though enforcement actions at the U.S.-Mexico border and in the interior of the country have drawn the most attention, a much more wide-ranging set of immigration-related policy changes has taken place over the past two years.
This document chronicles these changes, large and small, broken down by major issue area. Among other things, it includes Justice Department policies that affect how the immigration courts operate, humanitarian programs and statuses, adjustments to how the State Department processes visa applications and admits foreign nationals to the United States, and enforcement changes.
These policy changes have been accomplished unilaterally by the executive branch at a time when Congress has largely avoided taking on immigration-related legislation. They have come in the form of hundreds of policy memos, regulatory changes, and more. Some of these changes have been slowed or stopped by the courts, including attempts to prevent foreign nationals who cross the U.S. border illegally from receiving asylum, but most have gone into effect.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Immigration Enforcement
A. Border Security
B. Interior Enforcement
III. U.S. Department of Justice
A. Instructions to Immigration Judges
B. Attorney General Referral and Review
IV. Humanitarian Flows
A. Refugees
B. Asylum
C. Unaccompanied Children
D. Temporary Protected Status
V. U.S. Department of State
VI. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Department of Labor
A. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
B. Immigrant Visas
C. Nonimmigrant Visas
VII. Other
About the U.S. Immigration Policy Program
The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides analysis of U.S. immigration pathways, the impacts of enforcement and other policies, and the characteristics of immigrant populations.
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