ICE raids are the most visible attack on undocumented communities, but Trump has quietly wielded bureaucracy on legal immigrants, too. When the member states of the United Nations reviewed their Global Compact on Migration earlier this month, the United States was conspicuously absent. The State Department said it objects to global “efforts to facilitate replacement migration to the United States and our Western allies,” clarifying that the Trump administration supports “remigration — but not replacement migration.”
Such references to the “great replacement” — a far-right conspiracy theory — have now come from the government itself. Elon Musk applauded the State Department’s stance. Eliminating “replacement migration” and promoting “remigration” are central to Trump’s immigration policy, focusing on deporting people and restricting new immigrants.
Trump has drastically slashed legal immigration and stripped immigrants of legal status as part of his mass deportation policy. His actions fulfill the far-right’s dream of racial exclusion. A Cato Institute report found that Trump cut legal immigration more than illegal immigration. The drop in legal immigration is largely Trump’s doing.
Trump’s immigration policies have resulted in a net decline in migration, slowing U.S. population growth. His administration banned immigrant visas for nationals of 40 countries to prevent security threats, affecting 20% of all visa applicants.
Further, immigrants from 75 countries faced suspension of visas over claims they might burden U.S. taxpayers. This ban affected nearly half of all applicants, challenged as discriminatory in a lawsuit. Recent changes further restrict asylum claims, while refugee admissions dropped sharply.
Trump’s policies also impacted those already in the U.S., pausing work authorizations and affecting industries with labor shortages. Trump aimed to rescind Temporary Protected Status for some countries and sought to end DACA, increasing the number of deportable individuals.
Efforts to find fraud within the asylum system intensified, and green card processing for nationals of travel-banned countries froze. The administration also aims to pursue denaturalization cases aggressively, possibly eliminating birthright citizenship.
Bier from Cato Institute suggests these actions make it easier to deport immigrants by stripping legal status, increasing arrests and deportations. This core strategy seeks to make life so difficult for immigrants that they “choose” to leave.