Trump Didn't Actually Accomplish Much on Immigration
Legal arrivals declined during his administration while illegal entries remained steady -- and he left behind a ton of unresolved asylum cases.
Trump didn’t really reduce illegal immigration
Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images
President Joe Biden has come into office committed to undo most of what his predecessor accomplished on immigration. Which raises an important question: What did Donald Trump accomplish on immigration?
A simple answer, offered up recently by Alex Nowrasteh, director of immigration studies at the libertarian and very pro-immigration Cato Institute, is that “President Trump reduced legal immigration. He did not reduce illegal immigration.” Those are both accurate statements, but there are other spins one can put on the data. One is that Trump reduced immigration a little before the Covid-19 pandemic reduced it a lot. Another is that he sharply reduced immigration flows that are easy for a president to control — refugees being the most obvious example — and struggled with the rest.