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MPI Report on Trump-Era Immigration Policy Changes

Updated: Author: Alina Kanametova

Reference Guides 151 pages Anonymized Access on request

Final MPI report "Trump at 4": 151 pages of migration-policy analysis, background reading for O-1 / EB-1A / NIW applicants.

O-1 EB-1A EB-2 NIW

About this document

A Migration Policy Institute report that catalogs immigration policy changes during the Trump presidency from January 20, 2017 through January 20, 2021. It counts 472 executive actions plus 39 proposed but unimplemented measures, and organizes them by policy area. The report focuses on how layered regulatory, policy, and programmatic changes reshaped enforcement, humanitarian protection, and legal immigration.

Key points

  • Covers the Trump administration's immigration actions from Jan. 20, 2017 to Jan. 20, 2021.
  • Counts 472 executive actions on immigration, plus 39 proposed but not implemented measures.
  • Breaks the actions into categories such as pandemic response, enforcement, DOJ, State, and USCIS/DOL.
  • Says USCIS and the Department of Labor accounted for the largest share of actions.
  • Describes the layering of rules, guidance, memoranda, and program changes to advance policy goals.
  • Notes that 2019 public-charge changes affected green-card and visa processing, plus fee waiver and sponsor-reimbursement policies.
  • Reports declines in refugee admissions and asylum approval rates, alongside higher enforcement and removals.
  • Describes DACA litigation, including limits on new applications and later court orders to restore access.

What is inside

  1. Introduction
  2. What Has Changed?
  3. Driving Reform through Layered Changes
  4. Pushback and the Search for Alternatives
  5. Cataloging a Period of Intense Change
  6. Section 2 Pandemic Response
  7. Section 3 Immigration Enforcement
  8. Section 7 USCIS and DOL

When it helps

This report serves as background evidence on the immigration-policy environment and the scale of executive action during the Trump years. Its contents are useful for showing the broader policy context around enforcement, visa processing, humanitarian relief, and USCIS/DOL changes.

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Source: Community (anonymized). The material opens on the site. Reference material, not legal advice.

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