As Trump Takes Office, Immigration Enforcement and Policy Poised to Undergo Major Changes
Article from Migration Policy Insitute by Sarah Pierce and Randy CappsOften a flashpoint, immigration became a central theme in 2016 as Donald Trump successfully secured the Republican presidential nomination and the White House, sketching a vision of immigrants and refugees as threats requiring heightened scrutiny and the construction of walls to deter entry. The differing visions on immigration presented by Trump and his general election rival, Hillary Clinton, were stark, with the Democrat promising to consolidate and build upon the Obama administration record of relative tolerance toward immigrants and Trump pledging more enforcement against the unauthorized, stricter screening of legal immigrants, and reductions in overall immigration. Before the 2016 campaign, President Obama had used his executive authority to implement significant changes, including providing work authorization for nearly 750,000 young unauthorized immigrants.While Obama was stymied by Congress in terms of getting broader legislative immigration reform, President-elect Trump may benefit from a different dynamic considering that his fellow Republicans will hold majorities in both the Senate and House. In addition, if he holds to his campaign pledges, Trump is likely to reverse some of Obama’s most significant executive actions on immigration and implement new administrative policies soon after his inauguration on January 20.The Trump View of Immigration as Security and Economic Threat
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During his campaign Trump repeatedly associated immigrants with crime, security threats, and job competition for U.S. workers. His views resonated with many as parts of the country struggle to recover from the Great Recession and with recent terrorist attacks at home and abroad fanning fears over border security, refugee admissions, immigration from Muslim countries, and radicalization of immigrants and their children. Aiming to address these concerns, Trump made it a fixture of his stump speeches to pledge construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, deportation of millions of unauthorized immigrants, reversing Obama executive orders such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, reducing refugee resettlement and ending Syrian refugee admissions, and implementing “extreme vetting,” especially for immigrants and refugees from countries viewed as harboring terrorists.Trump’s best known campaign promise was his pledge to build a “big, beautiful” wall along the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico. While one-third of the border is already fenced, the pledge suggests Trump intends to devote substantially more resources to border security—even as in postelection statements he walked back his earlier promise, suggesting fencing could substitute for the wall in some areas. In a major August 2016 immigration policy speech, Trump proposed increasing the Border Patrol by 5,000 agents—or about 20 percent. This focus on border security would not represent a major policy shift, as border enforcement resources have increased with bipartisan support throughout the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations.Though he initially pledged to create a “deportation force” that would deport all 11 million unauthorized immigrants, Trump later modulated his stance to focus on those with criminal records. This also represents continuity with the Obama administration, which has increasingly prioritized the removal of noncitizens with criminal convictions. (The criminal share of removals rose from 31 percent in fiscal 2008 to 59 percent in fiscal 2015.) A focus on increased deportations, however, (READ MORE HERE)
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