Donald Trump has reduced legal immigration far more than he has reduced illegal immigration. That’s not “Fake News” pro paganda from liberal lunatics. This was the conclusion of a report by the CATO Institute, a conservative thinktank.
Since Donald Trump took office for the second time he has made immigration enforcement a priority and he has been quick to claim that he has been successful in securing the border and deporting heinous criminals. Trump has always said that he is not anti-immigration but pro-immigration so long as they came legally. Now that we are more than a year into Trump’s crusade having spent $113 BILLION, had millions of Americans take to the streets in protest, and seen countless videos of people being brutally beaten, shot, and even killed in the name of immigration enforcement, how successful has it actually been?
The Trump administration has spent $113 BILLION on immigration enforcement and has managed to cut 2.5 as many legal immigrant entries than he has illegal entries.
Who Has Been Unable to Legally Enter the US Under Trump?
Fiancé Visas
The fiancés of US citizens are allowed to legally enter the US on a K visa, which allows them to remain in the US and obtain residency only if they marry their US citizen fiancé. These visas are important because it is otherwise impossible for a US citizen to return home with their soon-to-be spouse without it. Every year thousands of US citizens who are serving their country in the military, working at consulates, assisting in global assistance programs, or working for an international corporation seek to return to the United States with their foreign fiancés.
The data shows that in 2025 the number of K fiancé visas were down by 65%.
That would mean more than 2,000 US citizens who were unable to legally immigrate back to the US with their family.
International Student Visas
US Universities are considered to be some of the best in the world and a big part of that is their ability to attract the best talent from around the world. Our universities therefore rely heavily on the large number of foreign students, the best academics from every country around the globe, who chose to come study in the US and contribute their genius to the collective brain power of the United States ivy leagues and tech sector. These international students often end up remaining in the US after graduating and obtaining an employment visa and doing groundbreaking research or joining some of our country’s most successful companies (like If you think Tesla is worth more than every other car company combined despite selling one hundredth as many cars. the world’s wealthiest man, Elon Musk did).
In the summer of 2025 international student visas dropped by 40%.
In May and early June, the State Department suspended all student visa issuances for three weeks during the peak season. In June, Trump signed an executive order banning student visas from 19 countries, which affected about 10,188 students annually, and in December, he expanded that ban to 40 countries, affecting about 23,000 students per year.
H1-B Nonimmigrant Worker Visas
The H1-B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows college-educated foreign nationals to come to the US for three years to work at a sponsoring company. H1-B visas are the life blood of the United State’s tech industry. half the people you talk to in Silicon valley are here on an H1-B. H1-B’s are also utilized heavily in the fashion industry and by design firms. Many companies in the tech and fashion world rely on these visas so survive and to attract the talent they need.
In the average month, H‑1B visa issuances in 2025 were already lower than in 2024. But in September, President Trump signed an executive order mandating a $100,000 fee to petition for an H‑1B worker outside the United States. There were 65,000 H‑1B approvals for workers outside of the US in FY 2024, and there were 219,659 visas issued abroad, implying that about 30 percent of visa issuances are for workers targeted by the ban.
Trump’s H1-B visa policies have resulted in a cut of at least 25%.
Ultimately the CATO Institute calculated that cuts to legal immigration are now 2.5 times higher than the cuts to illegal entries.
The Reduction in Illegal Entries We Have Seen Was a Continuation of the Reduction in Illegal Immigration that Began Under Biden
The report further notes that the reduction in illegal entries during 2025 and 2026 are a continuation of the trend that started under the Biden administration. The number of Border Patrol arrests at the southwest border had fallen by 82 percent from December 2024 to March 2025, but by December 2024, they had already fallen by 81 percent from their peak in December 2023. “Of the decline from the peak, 83 percent occurred under President Biden. Prior to Trump taking office, Border Patrol releases had already dropped 96 percent from their peak” according to the CATO Institute report.
Trump Has Decimated Asylum Protection in Violation of US & International Law
In both of his terms Trump cut LEGAL asylum entries by 99.9%.
In his second term Trump not only cut legal asylum entries by 99.9% but also reduced the number of refugees entering legally from abroad by about 90 percent, after he initially suspended them completely, resulting in the denial of refugee protection to thousands of persecuted Christians who were seeking safety in the United States.
Trump has since begun granting refugee entries exclusively to white South Africans who claim they are being persecuted because of their support of apartheid, the system of government that was in place in South Africa until the mid 1990’s, which allowed a minority of white people to control the government of South African and deny native Africans basic rights such as the ability to vote or own a business.
Conclusion
If you have been listening to what the President and his press secretary have been saying since he took office, then Trump’s anti-immigration crusade has been deporting the most heinous criminals and securing the border because they want people to immigrate legally. The problem with that narrative is that it is completely untrue. That data clearly shows that since Trump took office for the second time he drastically reduced legal immigration and has been primarily deporting people with no criminal record.
The CATO Institute’s report summarizes things nicely at the end explaining:
These cuts to legal immigration are harming US citizens seeking to reunite with their spouses, fiancés, children, and other relatives. They are also undermining US prosperity and increasing the US deficit. But they also illustrate the central misconception about the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.
It is not about stopping “illegal” immigration. It is a broader assault on all types of immigration. As Americans debate the path forward on immigration, that’s a reality everyone should understand.
Trump Has Cut Legal Immigration More Than Illegal Immigration, CATO Institute Available at https://www.cato.org/blog/trump-has-cut-legal-immigration-more-illegal-immigration
Read the full report from the CATO Institute
(available at https://www.cato.org/blog/trump-has-cut-legal-immigration-more-illegal-immigration)