President Donald Trump’s newest immigration crackdown, prompted by the taking pictures of two National Guard members, means he has now halted or considerably tightened every authorized and unlawful form of overseas entry into the US, prompting widespread worry and confusion amongst immigrants who’re uncertain what’s going to occur to their pending instances.
Trump’s mass deportation campaign has garnered consideration for its heavy-handed arrest techniques of undocumented immigrants nationwide. But the administration’s regular drumbeat of incremental adjustments to the US immigration system has additionally been disruptive — gumming up an already-arduous course of for tens of millions of folks.
In the days since two National Guard members have been shot in DC, allegedly by an Afghan migrant, the administration has introduced a handful of coverage shifts, together with a pause on asylum choices, a assessment of instances below the Biden administration and a “reexamination” of sure green-card holders, which have broad ramifications for immigrants residing in the US.
“We’re going back on all of these folks that have applied for asylum, people that would be traveling to this country, and looking at more information, what their social media platforms, they may have visited, the communications that they have, biometric information and data that we can collect from them, but also from their government too,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem instructed NCS’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday.
As half of that push, Noem is recommending that Trump’s journey ban record expand to include between 30 to 32 nations, a rise from the present record of 19 nations, in accordance to a supply acquainted with the matter. Adding to the confusion for future vacationers, it’s unclear which nations are being added to the record — and after they’ll be introduced.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services on Tuesday additionally paused, efficient instantly, immigration functions for people from the present 19 nations, in accordance to a policy memo.
The administration has often cited nationwide safety issues to push ahead its immigration agenda and roll out restrictions.
Trump administration officers and immigration hardliners have argued that doing so is mandatory to repair components of the system that, they are saying, have been exploited by immigrants coming into the nation, or these already residing in the US. But immigration attorneys and advocates say the matches and begins and tightening of guidelines has slowed down an already-cumbersome system.
“It’s hard to predict and advise our clients on how to navigate this system,” stated Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
“Imagine walking in a house of mirrors blindfolded. You never know, ‘Is this a wall that I’m walking into, is there a corner, is there a way to pivot?’ It’s hard to give advice when every Friday there’s a new announcement from the executive or a tweet with policy changes that are unpredictable,” he added.
Those adjustments have usually been challenged in court docket, creating extra chaos and confusion for the folks navigating the system. Some immigration attorneys have suggested purchasers to sit and wait amid the frequent whiplash and fears of being detained at routine examine ins or immigration hearings. Other immigrants, in the meantime, have chosen to voluntarily depart.
At instances, these authorized challenges have been indicative of the limitations the govt has in overhauling the US immigration system.
“You have lots of control over specific levers of what happens, and you can make drastic changes in policy, but you can’t wholesale change the system itself without Congress enacting legislation. I think that still holds true,” stated Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan thinktank, referring to the govt department.
For a lot of the first three years of President Joe Biden’s administration, the southern border was overwhelmed by the quantity of migrants searching for to cross into the United States, pushed by a mix of the COVID-19 pandemic, pure disasters and worsening financial circumstances in Latin America.
In the ultimate yr of Biden’s presidency, his administration carried out restrictions alongside the US-Mexico border that, Homeland Security officers stated, drove down border crossings.
But stopping the movement of folks, which Trump has repeatedly referred to as an “invasion,” remained a central tenet of his profitable presidential marketing campaign, and inside hours of being sworn in for his second time period, his administration took steps that successfully sought to shutter asylum at the southern border. Last month, the Supreme Court introduced it could assessment Trump’s coverage of turning away asylum seekers at the border.
Trump signed an govt motion that declared an emergency at the border, prompting the deployment of extra navy personnel to help with logistical and bureaucratic duties and end Trump’s long-promised border wall.
In March, US Customs and Border Protection awarded the first border wall contract throughout Trump’s second time period, giving a building firm greater than $70 million to assemble about seven miles of barrier in southern Texas.
The Trump administration has stated these actions have contributed to a major drop in crossings, claiming a major drop in migrant border crossings in the first 100 days of his second time period.
Following the taking pictures of members of the National Guard in Washington final week, USCIS introduced it was halting all asylum choices till “we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”
There have been greater than 2.2 million immigrants ready for asylum choices or hearings as at finish August 2025, in accordance to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
DHS additionally stated it was reviewing all asylum choices made throughout Biden’s time period following the taking pictures. The halt signifies that asylum seekers who may have already got waited years for his or her instances to be resolved now face an much more unsure future.
In 1990, Congress created a short lived protected standing program for folks fleeing nations enduring pure disasters, wars or different circumstances that may make it harmful for folks to return. The program granted these folks the proper to dwell and work in the United States for a short lived interval of time that may very well be prolonged.
Seventeen nations have been coated by TPS designations as of late March, accounting for about 1.3 million overseas nationals dwelling in the United States who have been coated. But the Trump administration has sought to winnow again protections for residents from a number of nations.
In February, the Department of Homeland Security introduced it was searching for to finish TPS protections for residents of Haiti, which had been coated below the program since the nation skilled a devastating earthquake in 2010. A federal decide later blocked that transfer after accusing DHS of failing to observe procedures mandated by Congress.
The administration has additionally moved to finish TPS standing or reverse extensions for Venezuela, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nepal, Honduras, Nicaragua and Syria.
In November, DHS moved to additionally finish TPS for South Sudan and Burma, each of which have been mired by years of civil conflict.
As of December, 12 nations are coated below TPS, although a number of of their designations are set to expire subsequent yr. That timeline may change pending authorized motion.
The Trump administration in October introduced it was limiting the quantity of refugees the United States would admit to 7,500 every year — a miniscule quantity for a rustic that had lengthy been a beacon to tens of millions of folks fleeing conflict, poverty and persecution of their dwelling nations and had allowed refugees below applications that loved bipartisan help.
In 2024, the US admitted simply over 100,000 refugees, primarily from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Syria.
The principal group being welcomed below Trump is White South Africans. The president and officers inside his administration, together with his someday adviser, billionaire South African-born Elon Musk, declare that group is dealing with persecution, racism, threats and homicide of their dwelling nation.
Both Trump and Musk alleged that White South Africans have been being discriminated in opposition to due to land reform insurance policies carried out by that nation’s authorities which sought to redress the legacy of apartheid, the system below which non-White South Africans have been forcibly displaced from their lands in favor of Whites. Black South Africans, who comprise over 80% of the inhabitants of 63 million, personal solely round 4% of personal land.
The authorities of South Africa has strongly refuted the administration’s claims that it is discriminating in opposition to its White residents.
NCS previously reported the Trump administration is additionally shifting to reinterview sure refugees who have been admitted to the United States below Biden as half of a complete assessment of their instances.
The taking pictures of guard members in Washington final week additionally prompted USCIS to announce “a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.” Green card holders have the potential to dwell and work completely in the US however don’t get pleasure from the full advantages of citizenship, together with the proper to vote or maintain an American passport.
Asked to make clear which nations have been of concern, USCIS pointed NCS towards a presidential proclamation in June that named 19 countries together with Cuba, Laos, Venezuela, Haiti and Afghanistan.
Reviewing particular person inexperienced card holders from every of these nations may very well be a monumental job requiring the administration to assessment the statuses of tens of 1000’s of folks. It’s unclear when the assessment will finish.
In September, the administration sought to place restrictions on sure work visas, claiming these visas have been used to the detriment of American employees who have been being changed fairly than supplanted by the overseas employees.
Trump signed an govt motion imposing a $100,000 software charge for H-1B visas, that are generally utilized by tech firms who say the program is mandatory to fill out employees who they can’t discover in the United States. About 65,000 H-1B visas are granted yearly, and the demand for the visas usually exceeds their provide.
In October, the administration introduced a number of adjustments to the program, together with narrowing the definition of “specialty occupation,” enhancing DHS’ “ability to enforce compliance through worksite inspections,” and reforming the wage methodology that officers argued beforehand put American employees at a drawback.
One business that the president appears hesitant to limit is agriculture, which depends closely on each authorized and undocumented immigrant labor.
While the president was taking a hardline stance in opposition to undocumented immigration this summer time, behind the scenes members of his administration were working to assuage concerns in that business about the results of an immigration crackdown, and the president’s personal tone towards undocumented farm employees has been noticeably softer in contrast to different sectors.
The administration has issued 1000’s of fewer visas for worldwide college students than had been typical throughout earlier years.
The administration this yr has additionally focused the present visas of 1000’s of worldwide college students, with explicit consideration on those that have been lively in campus protests that opposed Israel’s navy marketing campaign in Gaza.
The State Department has revoked about 6,000 scholar visas this yr, and the administration’s restrictive stance towards what college students finding out on visas can submit to social media has discouraged others from even making use of to research in the United States.
Reasons for the visa revocations have ranged from high-profile instances involving allegations of help for terrorist organizations to comparatively minor incidents that embody years-old misdemeanor crimes.
Earlier this yr, the administration paid explicit consideration to visas for Chinese college students. The Trump administration moved to “aggressively revoke” Chinese scholar visas earlier than later reversing course.
In an interview with Fox News final month, the president stated he thinks “it’s good” to have college students from “outside countries” enrolled at American universities — and defended China whereas attacking France, an in depth American ally.