Immigration policy of Donald Trump

Children sitting within a wire mesh compartment in the Ursula detention facility in McAllen, Texas, June 2018
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Immigration policy, including illegal immigration to the United States, was a signature issue of former U.S. president Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and his proposed reforms and remarks about this issue generated much publicity.[1] Trump has repeatedly said that illegal immigrants are criminals.[2][3]

A hallmark promise of his campaign was to build a substantial wall on the United States–Mexico border and to force Mexico to pay for the wall. Trump has also expressed support for a variety of "limits on legal immigration and guest-worker visas",[1][4] including a "pause" on granting green cards, which Trump says will "allow record immigration levels to subside to more moderate historical averages".[5][6][7] Trump's proposals regarding H-1B visas frequently changed throughout his presidential campaign, but as of late July 2016, he appeared to oppose the H-1B visa program.[8]

As president, on January 27, 2017, Trump issued an executive order banning the admission of travelers, immigrants, and refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations, which later expanded to thirteen in 2020.[9] In response to legal challenges he revised the ban twice, with his third version being upheld by the Supreme Court in June 2018. He attempted to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but a legal injunction has allowed the policy to continue while the matter is the subject of legal challenge. He imposed a "zero tolerance" policy to require the arrest of anyone caught illegally crossing the border, which resulted in separating children from their families.[10] Tim Cook and 58 other CEOs of major American companies warned of harm from Trump's immigration policy.[11] The "zero tolerance" policy was reversed in June 2018, but multiple media reports of continued family separations were published in the first half of 2019.

In his first State of the Union address on January 30, 2018, Trump outlined his administration's four pillars for immigration reform: (1) a path to citizenship for DREAMers; (2) increased border security funding; (3) ending the diversity visa lottery; and (4) restrictions on family-based immigration.[12] In the August 2022 issue of The Atlantic, the cover story wrote that if the architects of the family separation return to power they "will likely seek to reinstate it."[13]

  1. ^ a b "Campaign 2015: The Candidates & the World: Donald Trump on Immigration". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  2. ^ Rogers, Katie (June 22, 2018). "Trump Highlights Immigrant Crime to Defend His Border Policy. Statistics Don't Back Him Up". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 22, 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  3. ^ Maciag, Mike (March 2, 2017). "The Mythical Link Between Immigrants and High Crime Rates". www.governing.com. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  4. ^ Sahil Kapur, "Reality Check: 4 Reasons Trump's Immigration Plans Are Impractical" Archived March 17, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Bloomberg Politics (August 8, 2015).
  5. ^ "Trump says would raise visa fees to pay for Mexican border wall" Archived May 18, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Reuters (August 16, 2015).
  6. ^ Seung Min Kim, "Trump hits turbulence with immigration hard-liners" Archived March 9, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Politico (March 14, 2016).
  7. ^ Jeremy Diamond & Sara Murray, "Trump outlines immigration specifics" Archived January 25, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, CNN (August 17, 2015).
  8. ^ Jane C. Timm (November 7, 2016). "Here Are All of Donald Trump's Flip-Flops on Big Issues". NBC News. Archived from the original on July 6, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference adds was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference prosecute was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Tim Cook, 58 other US CEOs warn of harm from Trump's immigration policy - Times of India". The Times of India. August 24, 2018. Archived from the original on August 24, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  12. ^ Kerr, Ashley (February 8, 2018). "President Trump's Four Pillars for Immigration Reform". The National Law Review. ISSN 2161-3362. Archived from the original on September 6, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  13. ^ Dickerson, Caitlin (August 7, 2022). "September Cover Story by Caitlin Dickerson Exposes Secret History of Trump Administration's Family-Separation Policy". The Atlantic. Retrieved September 24, 2022.