As of December 2025, the Trump administration has not completely stopped all legal immigration
but has implemented significant and sweeping restrictions that have drastically slowed down or halted several pathways to legal status. These actions were intensified following a recent shooting incident in Washington, D.C..
Key measures affecting legal immigration include:
- Pausing Applications for 19 Countries: The administration has indefinitely halted the processing of all immigration applications, including green cards and U.S. citizenship requests, for individuals from 19 countries, primarily in Africa and the Middle East, that were previously part of a travel ban.
- Halting Asylum Decisions: All asylum decisions have been paused indefinitely, regardless of the applicant's nationality, pending a comprehensive review.
- Reviewing Past Approvals: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been ordered to re-examine all approved asylum grants and immigration benefits issued during the Biden administration (after January 20, 2021) for individuals from "high-risk" countries.
- Reducing Refugee Admissions: The cap on refugee admissions for the fiscal year was set to a record low of 7,500, with an emphasis on specific demographics like white Afrikaners from South Africa. The refugee program was also suspended entirely for a period.
- Ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS): Legal protections (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries like Venezuela, Haiti, and Afghanistan have been terminated, making them subject to deportation.
- Increasing Scrutiny: The administration has implemented stricter vetting, a more difficult citizenship test, and allowed officers to consider the use of public benefits as a reason to deny status.
These policies have created significant backlogs and uncertainty, with legal experts noting the administration's goal is to significantly reduce legal migration pathways to the United States.