E.g., 04/18/2024
E.g., 04/18/2024
Data and Analysis Related to Trump Administration Actions on Immigrant and Refugee Policy

Data and Analysis Related to Trump Administration Actions on Immigrant and Refugee Policy


(Photo: Shealah Craighead/White House)

While in office, the Trump administration proposed and implemented policies on a wide range of immigration issues, touching on everything from asylum to deportation policy, refugee resettlement, and admissions from certain majority-Muslim countries. These MPI research and data resources offer context to policy changes achieved and proposed, as well as the populations they affect.

For a record of immigration developments during the Trump administration, check out this resource: Four Years of Profound Change: Immigration Policy during the Trump Presidency.

Click through the tabs below to view resources by topic.

REPORT: Four Years of Profound Change: Immigration Policy during the Trump Presidency

REPORT: Obscure but Powerful: Shaping U.S. Immigration Policy through Attorney General Referral and Review

ARTICLE: The U.S. Presidential Campaign Cements Political Parties’ Deepening Schism on Immigration

REPORT: Dismantling and Reconstructing the U.S. Immigration System: A Catalog of Changes under the Trump Presidency

ARTICLE: Impending USCIS Furloughs Will Contribute to a Historic Drop in U.S. Immigration Levels

COMMENTARY: Millions of U.S. Citizens Could Be Excluded under Trump Plan to Remove Unauthorized Immigrants from Census Data

COMMENTARY: USCIS Budget Implosion Owes to Far More than the Pandemic

REPORT: Immigration and U.S. National Security: The State of Play Since 9/11

COMMENTARY: USCIS Fee Increase Proposed Rule Could Represent the Latest Step in Reshaping Immigration to United States

ARTICLE: Crisis in the Courts: Is the Backlogged U.S. Immigration Court System at Its Breaking Point?

REPORT: Immigration-Related Policy Changes in the First Two Years of the Trump Administration

REPORT: Eight Key U.S. Immigration Policy Issues: State of Play and Unanswered Questions

ARTICLE: Despite Flurry of Actions, Trump Administration Faces Constraints in Achieving Its Immigration Agenda

ARTICLE: Executive Power Showdown: Congress and White House Quarrel over Immigration Spending

ARTICLE: Sessions: The Trump Administration’s Once-Indispensable Man on Immigration

ARTICLE: Census Citizenship Question Triggers Legal and Political Fallout

REPORT: U.S. Immigration Policy under Trump: Deep Changes and Lasting Impacts

COMMENTARY: The Trump Immigration Plan: A Lopsided Proposal

REPORT: Trump's First Year on Immigration Policy: Rhetoric vs. Reality

REPORT: In the Age of Trump: Populist Backlash and Progressive Resistance Create Divergent State Immigrant Integration Contexts

ARTICLE: Tens of Thousands in United States Face Uncertain Future, as Temporary Protected Status Deadlines Loom

REPORT: Building a New Regional Migration System: Redefining U.S. Cooperation with Mexico and Central America
(Para leer este reporte en español, haga clic aquí).

POLICY BRIEF: Rethinking the U.S.-Mexico Border Immigration Enforcement System: A Policy Road Map

ARTICLE: Interlocking Set of Trump Administration Policies at the U.S.-Mexico Border Bars Virtually All from Asylum

ARTICLE: Supreme Court Asylum Ruling Latest Sign Judiciary Is Not the Brake on the Trump Administration that Immigration-Rights Activists Sought

REPORT: From Control to Crisis: Changing Trends and Policies Reshaping U.S.-Mexico Border Enforcement

COMMENTARY: Strategic Solutions for the United States and Mexico to Manage the Migration Crisis

COMMENTARY: International Experience Suggests Safe Third-Country Agreement Would Not Solve the U.S.-Mexico Border Crisis

COMMENTARY: Policy Solutions to Address Crisis at Border Exist, But Require Will and Staying Power to Execute

ARTICLE: Remain in Mexico Plan Echoes Earlier U.S. Policy to Deter Haitian Migration

ARTICLE: Trump Administration’s Unprecedented Actions on Asylum at the Southern Border Hit Legal Roadblock

COMMENTARY: Asylum Reform, Not Troops, Is the Solution to Current Border Reality

ARTICLE: Trump Administration’s New Indefinite Family Detention Policy: Deterrence Not Guaranteed

REPORT: The U.S. Asylum System in Crisis: Charting a Way Forward

COMMENTARY: Far from a Retreat, the Trump Administration’s Border Policies Advance its Enforcement Aims

ARTICLE: Family Separation and “Zero-Tolerance” Policies Rolled Out to Stem Unwanted Migrants, But May Face Challenges

ARTICLE: National Guard Heads to Southern Border Amid Differing Reality from Earlier Deployments

POLICY BRIEF: Trump Executive Order and DHS Implementation Memo on Border Enforcement: A Brief Review

ARTICLE: Borders and Walls: Do Barriers Deter Unauthorized Migration?

ARTICLE: Mexican Immigrants in the United States

ARTICLE: Central American Immigrants in the United States

COMMENTARY: Anticipated “Chilling Effects” of the Public-Charge Rule Are Real: Census Data Reflect Steep Decline in Benefits Use by Immigrant Families

ARTICLE: The “Trump Effect” on Legal Immigration Levels: More Perception than Reality?

COMMENTARY: Broad and Blunt, the Trump Administration’s H-1B Changes Miss the Opportunity for Real Reform

REPORT: A Rockier Road to U.S. Citizenship? Findings of a Survey on Changing Naturalization Procedures

ARTICLE: The U.S. Stands Alone in Explicitly Basing Coronavirus-Linked Immigration Restrictions on Economic Grounds

ARTICLE: Crisis within a Crisis: Immigration in the United States in a Time of COVID-19

COMMENTARY: The Public-Charge Rule: Broad Impacts, But Few Will Be Denied Green Cards Based on Actual Benefits Use

COMMENTARY: Health Insurance Test for Green-Card Applicants Could Sharply Cut Future U.S. Legal Immigration

COMMENTARY: Millions Will Feel Chilling Effects of U.S. Public-Charge Rule That Is Also Likely to Reshape Legal Immigration

ARTICLE: “Merit-Based” Immigration: Trump Proposal Would Dramatically Revamp Immigrant Selection Criteria, But with Modest Effects on Numbers

POLICY BRIEF: Gauging the Impact of DHS’ Proposed Public-Charge Rule on U.S. Immigration

ARTICLE: Even as Congress Remains on Sidelines, the Trump Administration Slows Legal Immigration

COMMENTARY: A Path to Citizenship for 1.8 Million DREAMERs? Despite Talk, No Proposal Would Do So

COMMENTARY: Legalization for DREAMers: A Realistic Appraisal of Potential Chain Migration

COMMENTARY: The RAISE Act: Dramatic Change to Family Immigration, Less So for the Employment-Based System

COMMENTARY: Leaked Draft of Possible Trump Executive Order on Public Benefits Would Spell Chilling Effects for Legal Immigrants