It's election time and everybody's talking. But what does another Trump administration actually mean for Immigration? Let's get into it.
Photo credit: NYT
TLDR: Generally speaking, Trump was harsher and less friendly to immigrants, both legal and illegal. He restricted refugees from entering the U.S., made it more difficult to claim asylum, removed asylum protections and other avenues for legal migration, and instituted many controversial border policies.
What did Trump do as president?
Trump’s more controversial policies while in office:
Zero Tolerance (or child separation): Immigrant families who crossed the US-Mexico border were separated; children were placed in US custody, while parents were criminally charged and deported. Trump bowed to domestic and international pressure and abandoned the program after three months.
"Muslim Ban": Throughout his presidency, Trump periodically blocked entry into the US of citizens from predominantly Muslim countries, initially Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, and Somalia. The list of countries later changed, with varying degrees of travel restrictions.
“Remain-in-Mexico”: Officially called Migrant Protection Protocols, a program negotiated with Mexico that allowed the US to return certain immigrants to Mexico while they awaited the resolution of their US immigration proceedings.
Asylum Cooperative Agreements (or “Safe-Third Country” Agreements): Allows the U.S. to deport asylum seekers to “Safe Third Countries” (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) to seek asylum there instead of in the U.S.
Trump on the Border:
Trump diverted funding from the military for reinforcement of 416 miles of physical barriers of the US-Mexico border, as well as 52 miles of new barriers.
Trump expanded “metering” at the Border, which limits the number of asylum seekers allowed entry each day along the southern border, due to actual or perceived processing capacity.
Metered asylum seekers wait indefinitely in Mexico to enter the United States and apply for asylum.
Trump ICE/DHS policy:
Trump expanded DHS’s “expedited removal” powers. All migrants who had illegally entered the United States within the previous two years were subject to expedited removal
Trump permitted ICE to hold pregnant women in detention facilities, ending the Obama-era practice of generally releasing them
Trump on Immigration:
Immigration under Covid:
Trump invoked Title 42 Public Health Emergency Order, for the first time in history, during Covid-19. This denied all entries, which many objected to because it returned immigrants to dangerous parts of Mexico, and violated international law by denying immigrants the ability to seek asylum.
Trump cut legal immigration to the U.S. by roughly 50 percent via executive action. Specifically, Trump suspended the issuance of employment-based permanent and temporary visas; family-based permanent immigrant visas, family-based temporary nonimmigrant visas, diversity visas, and visas for victims of certain crimes
Trump cancelled the implementation of DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) an Obama-era program meant to ensure parents of DACA beneficiaries had the right to remain and care for their children
The government stopped accepting new applications for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or “Dreamers”) and detained and deported DACA recipients whose status could not be confirmed
Expanded the category of migrants classified as priorities for deportation, and disqualified "sanctuary cities" from receiving federal grants
Trump ended Temporary Protective Status for foreign nationals of El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal.
Trump made it harder for immigrants to apply for Green Cards if they had previously used public benefits
Trump on Asylum:
Trump removed asylum protections for domestic violence victims in a decision known as "Matter of A-B-".
(Matter of A-B- reversed a 2016 court decision that had granted asylum to a Salvadoran domestic abuse victim, rendering most victims of gender-based or gang violence ineligible for US asylum)
Transit-Country Asylum Ban – prohibited migrants at the southern border from eligibility for asylum if they had not already applied and been denied asylum in a transit country on their way to the U.S. (i.e. Guatemala, Mexico, etc.)
Started two programs (PACR, HARP) which streamlined or allowed for quick screening and deportation of those migrants deemed not eligible for asylum or other protection;
Covid policies (Title 42 Public Health Emergency, noted above) also restricted asylum applicants from crossing the US-Mexico Border
Trump on Refugees:
Trump banned or attempted to ban refugees from 11 high national security risk countries (reportedly Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) and ordered the government to deprioritize the resettlement of these refugees.
DHS announced additional screening measures as well.
Trump capped yearly refugee admissions to historically low numbers – including just 15k refugees allowed admission into the US in all of 2021, ultimately receiving less than 12k. Prior to this, since establishing the US refugee resettlement program in 1975, the government has admitted, on average, 72,500 refugees per year
Trump initiated “Extreme Vetting” - or a series of changes to background/security checks on refugee applicants, which reduced the number of refugees admitted to the U.S.
Trump ended the Central American Minors (CAM) Refugee and Parole Program, which allowed minors from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, who had parents in the United States, to apply for refugee status and possible resettlement in the U.S.
Trump campaign promises 2024:
Initiate “the largest deportation operation in American history,” done by local police, the National Guard, and possibly by active-duty military, with the possibility of increasing detention centers to hold these individuals
Narrowly scale back asylum and access to asylum, to the degree that it might essentially be closed to most people who seek it
End refugee resettlement
Continue to pursue the end of DACA, which has been tied up in the Courts
Restore and make stronger his “Muslim Ban,” or what he has termed “travel ban on entry from terror-plagued countries”
End birthright citizenship for children born in the US to undocumented immigrant parents
Reinstitute the Remain-in-Mexico program
Reinstitute the “Safe Third Countries” policy, to deport asylum seekers to El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras, to seek asylum there
Invoke again Title 42, a public health authority that allows the US government to expel immigrants immediately in the name of public health. His 2020 justification was the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump now claims that immigrants are bringing tuberculosis and other contagious diseases
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