Immigration

Ilya Somin | 2.8.2025 5:58 PM

Most of the media coverage and public debate over Trump's new immigration policies focus on his efforts to ramp up mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. But it is also important to emphasize  how the new administration has sought to gut much of the legal immigration system. If they succeed, it is likely to cause great harm and injustice to both immigrants and US citizens. My Cato Institute colleague David Bier has a helpful summary of Trump's actions against legal migration so far:

- Suspending indefinitely all US refugee entries, canceling 10,000 previously scheduled flights, and stranding 22,000 refugees who were approved to travel. A report on a potential limited restart is due in 90 days (Apr. 20).

- Removing the ability to schedule appointments for lawful entry at the US-Mexico border using the CBP One phone app, which had permitted 1,450 people per day (529,250 per year) to enter the United States legally. About 270,000 people waiting for appointments are stranded in Mexico.

- Canceling 30,000 scheduled appointments for people stuck in Mexico. There is a lawsuit on behalf of one asylum seeker and her child who "depleted their life savings and survived kidnapping, robbery, and threats of sexual abuse" while waiting for an appointment….

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