There is no shortage of opinion when it comes to President Trump’s effect on immigration. However, while many of the President’s policies on immigration seek to reverse or halt trends established in prior administrations, many other actions merely serve to continue or strengthen earlier immigration policies.
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Some policies have been challenged in the courts, so implementation of these policies has been put on hold. However, enough of President Trump’s initiatives have been implemented to allow for at least a preliminary analysis of the administration’s effect on immigration.
After campaigning on a series of immigration promises, President Trump sought to put many policies in place soon after entering office. According to the White House, the President aims to protect law and order and secure the nation’s borders by building a wall along the Mexican border and working to secure “swift” removal of those who enter the U.S. unlawfully.
Another critical component of the President’s immigration strategy is to restrict employment-based immigration to preserve jobs for American workers. Other immigration policies implemented by the President seek to reduce the number of immigrants eligible to obtain government benefits such as Medicaid and Welfare, even in situations where immigrants enter through legal channels.
A large part of the effect of President Trump’s immigration policies involves not so much changing the laws as changing how those laws are enforced.
One of the most widely reported effects of the President’s policies concerned separation of family members apprehended crossing the border unlawfully. To help step up prosecution of immigration crimes, the Department of Homeland Security started referring border crossing cases to the Justice Department, and parents being prosecuted were separated from children who were not permitted to be detained in the same facilities. In response to public outrage over the separation of over 2,700 children from their parents, President Trump issued an executive order ending the practice, although family separation can still occur in certain situations.
Regarding enforcement of immigration laws away from the borders, President Trump’s executive order expanded the categories of noncitizens prioritized for removal proceedings, effectively subjecting more undocumented immigrants to deportation. Even noncitizens with pending U visa applications who are supposed to be assisting law enforcement officials may face removal proceedings unless U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reports that the application is likely to be granted.
In the changes implemented by the Trump administration, instructions to immigration judges and other judicial practices have been modified with an overall effect of making it more difficult for immigrants to fight deportation but also streamlining some procedures. However, some of the more unseen effects of Trump’s presidency include the impacts of international adoption and school funding. Universities often rely on a large portion of international students attending their institutions. However, recent immigration policy has made this challenging. More so, international adoption has become equally difficult with parents having to go through more legislative hurdles.
To learn more about the effects of Trump’s presidency on immigration efforts, talk to an attorney at the Hacking Immigration Law, LLC.
