WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration has implemented immigration enforcement measures, including travel restrictions, increased denaturalization referrals, and an executive order regarding birthright citizenship. Federal agencies are enacting policies to restrict immigration entry, limit naturalization approvals, and review the legal status of naturalized citizens.
Donald Trump issued travel restrictions between June and December of last year, affecting applicants from thirty-nine countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Nigeria, and Iran. The federal government suspended immigration applications for individuals from these thirty-nine countries. In January, the State Department published a list of seventy-five countries subject to immigration application suspensions. Naturalization ceremonies were canceled for permanent residents from these restricted countries who had previously received approval for citizenship. A federal judge issued an order blocking the suspension of applications from the original thirty-nine countries.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) previously mandated most temporary-status green-card applicants in the U.S. to leave the country and apply from abroad. The White House later stated this directive was a procedural matter. USCIS also established a Tactical Operations Division to investigate potential fraud or administrative errors in the legal status of citizens, green-card holders, and refugees. USCIS has received instructions to refer one hundred to two hundred denaturalization cases to federal prosecutors monthly. The United States averaged eleven denaturalizations per year from 1990 to 2017. The Republican-controlled Senate approved seventy billion dollars in additional funding for immigration enforcement.
Trump also issued an executive order attempting to terminate birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of birthright citizenship. Stephen Miller, Trump's top domestic-policy adviser, stated, "If you import the Third World, you become the Third World." Congress has not enacted comprehensive immigration reform legislation since the late 1980s. Recent immigration policy adjustments have been implemented through executive orders and agency regulations rather than congressional legislation.
No independent assessment was available for this report.