WHAT’S HAPPENING
Since taking office in 2025, the Trump administration has made dramatic cuts to legal immigration through a sweeping series of executive actions, travel bans, and regulatory changes.
Immigration from Muslim-majority countries has plunged by more than 90 percent, while the administration has revoked hundreds of thousands of visas for criminal activity. The administration claims these cuts are greater than any other in American history.
THE FACTS
An expanded travel ban, effective January 2026, blocked people from 39 countries from receiving visas or entering the country.
A separate visa pause barred immigrants from 52 additional countries, bringing the total to 91 nations affected.
K visas for fiancé(e)s and spouses of US citizens are down 61 percent from February 2024 levels.
Student visa issuances have fallen 42 percent, with a three-week suspension during peak season and bans on 40 countries.
H-1B visas have collapsed by 78 percent after Trump mandated a $100,000 fee for petitions involving newly hired workers abroad.
The administration announced a $70,000 work-authorization fee for international student graduates applying for Optional Practical Training.
Refugee admissions have dropped nearly 90 percent, with the program restarted to primarily admit white South African refugees.
Legal asylum entries at southwest ports of entry fell 99.9 percent after CBP eliminated the CBP One scheduling app.
During Trump's second term, the State Department revoked over 300,000 visas for criminal activity.
OUR TAKE
Fascinatingly, Cato’s analysis revealed that legal immigration cuts have exceeded illegal immigration cuts by a ratio of 2.7 to 1. These legal immigration restrictions will help, in part, ease the housing crunch and other demand-side problems.
But with an estimated 11-plus million unauthorized immigrants already in the country, annual deportations would need to exceed one million to make a meaningful dent. At the current rate of removals, it will fall well short of that. Without sustained mass deportations at unprecedented scale, many who entered illegally will simply remain.
Correction, Oct. 31, 2026: An earlier version of this article attributed the revocation of more than 300,000 visas to CBP. The State Department revoked them.
