Since President Trump\u2019s second term began, the administration has used executive orders and federal regulations to chip away at services or benefits, such as work permits<\/a> and small business loans<\/a>, that immigrants could obtain in the past.<\/p>\n Now, immigrants are finding that freedoms \u2014 the ones that once made the U.S. a desirable place to start over \u2014 are disappearing. Many are retreating back into the shadows as they fear previously routine tasks, such as traveling across states, filing taxes and seeking medical care. <\/p>\n \u201cThe priority is to force people to leave the country or not come, regardless of legal status or really any other criteria,\u201d said David Bier, immigration studies director at the Libertarian think tank the Cato Institute. \u201cThey\u2019re taking a sledgehammer to the system.\u201d <\/p>\n Trump won the White House in part on his promise to clamp down on illegal immigration, but recent polling shows support for his agenda has waned, especially after immigration agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n In a statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump\u2019s highest priority has always been the deportation of immigrants with criminal records. The Department of Homeland Security said Trump also prioritizes immigration that strengthens the country financially, socially and culturally. <\/p>\n President Trump displays the signed \u201cSecure America Act\u201d during a ceremony in the Oval Office on Wednesday. The act provides $70 billion for immigration enforcement and border-security agencies.<\/p>\n (Aaron Schwartz \/ CNP, Bloomberg)<\/p>\n The number of arrests by ICE agents has declined. On average, ICE arrested about 1,000 immigrants per day in early March, down from a peak average of just under 1,400 in mid-January, agency data show. And there are fewer detained immigrants<\/a> \u2014 facilities across the country held about 60,000 detainees in April, compared to more than 70,000 in late January. <\/p>\n The downturns prompted some Trump loyalists to say the administration is failing to fulfill his signature promise, which is an assertion the administration rejects. <\/p>\n \u201cICE is NOT slowing down,\u201d said Homeland Security spokesperson Lauren Bis. \u201cSince Day One, DHS law enforcement has been delivering on President Trump\u2019s promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens.\u201d<\/p>\n At a border security conference<\/a> last month, Tom Homan, who leads border policy for the White House, suggested immigration agents would return to more muscular enforcement tactics. <\/p>\n \u201cYou ain\u2019t seen s\u2014 yet,\u201d he told the audience. <\/p>\n But along with focusing on deportations, the administration is deploying other tactics to deter illegal \u2014 and legal \u2014immigration.<\/p>\n ICE agents confront protesters on June 8 as they gather outside the federal immigration center at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, where ICE is housing detained immigrants. <\/p>\n (Spencer Platt \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Curtailing visas<\/p>\n Last month, the Department of Homeland Security announced that \u201cexcept in extraordinary circumstances,\u201d immigrants seeking lawful permanent residency must leave the U.S.<\/a> to complete the process. After a backlash, the administration defended the policy, saying it won\u2019t prevent anyone who qualifies for a green card from getting one. <\/p>\n U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency in charge of processing immigration benefits, has upped security screening since Trump took office. The agency says that\u2019s to root out fraud, but critics say all it does is unnecessarily slow down a system that already vets applicants vigorously. <\/p>\n The administration indefinitely banned people from 75 countries from receiving immigrant visas, which allow people to move permanently to the U.S. <\/p>\n In a similar move, the government halted the processing of immigration applications for people from 39 countries and who are already in the U.S. On June 5, a federal judge struck down the policy in a scathing ruling that said the administration \u201cjustifies its actions with pretextual concerns of \u2018national security\u2019 that mask anti-immigrant sentiments.\u201d <\/p>\n Children of Guatemalan origin, from left, Areimy, Mariela and Enrique, arrive at Miami International Airport on Dec. 4, 2025, as they prepare to leave the United States to reunite with their recently deported parents in Guatemala. <\/p>\n (Chandan Khanna \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n The judge\u2019s ruling may offer relief, but for many immigrants, the effects of the policy are devastating. Armin, a 42-year-old from Iran, said he has racked up more than $15,000 in debt since the pause took effect in December. Armin asked The Times not to fully identify for fear of jeopardizing his immigration case. <\/p>\n The nutritional scientist came to the U.S. in 2019 on a student visa and has a pending green card application under a provision that allows certain highly skilled immigrants to apply for permanent residency without needing an employer to sponsor them. <\/p>\n After receiving his PhD and completing a postdoctoral program, Armin was in between jobs when he received a research grant in November. But with the processing of his work authorization halted, the university that issued the grant said it couldn\u2019t hire him as a research associate. In February, he was turned down for another job. <\/p>\n Armin said he is confused about why the administration won\u2019t differentiate between legal immigrants and those who should be deported. <\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m doing research and my research has national interest benefits. You expect support from the government. Unfortunately they don\u2019t differentiate. They don\u2019t care about your resume.\u201d <\/p>\n Bier said the visa policies affect half of all legal immigrants coming from abroad. He published a report in April<\/a> about how Trump has cut legal immigration far more than illegal immigration, noting that the administration\u2019s policies have led to big drops in visas for international students, high-skilled workers and refugees. <\/p>\n \u201cThe legal immigration system is being used as a means to carry out the mass deportation agenda,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Alessandro Negrete, who lived most of his life in the U.S. undocumented, crosses into Mexico after deciding to leave. <\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Encouraging self-deportation<\/p>\n More than 90,000 immigrants<\/a> have been granted voluntary departure since the start of the Trump administration, according to federal immigration court data through April that was analyzed by TRAC, a data research organization. Voluntary departure avoids official deportation and can leave open the possibility of an immigrant returning to the U.S. legally. <\/p>\n Homan, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has said self-deportations were part of the administration\u2019s immigration plan all along. <\/p>\n \u201cWe knew if we surged unlimited ICE resources in the interior, and we do these operations, that that will force those that are here illegally to leave on their own,\u201d he recently told the Washington Examiner<\/a>. <\/p>\n Halting work permits<\/p>\n In the past, asylum seekers and others with deportation protections have had the ability to seek permits to work legally in the U.S. But work is now an administration target.<\/p>\n One proposed regulation would prevent asylum seekers from working legally in the U.S. Another proposal, published Friday, would further restrict access to work permits for other immigrants<\/a>. <\/p>\n Under a rule that took effect last month<\/a>, asylum seekers pay an annual $102 fee within 30 days of receiving a notice from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. If the deadline is missed, their applications will be rejected \u2014 with no opportunity to appeal \u2014 and they could be placed in deportation proceedings. Those who apply for asylum with the agency have entered the U.S. legally, such as on a visa, and are not undocumented. <\/p>\n Asylum seekers rest at a Tijuana migrant shelter a day after President Trump began his second term in the White House. <\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Conchita Cruz, co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, said many asylum applicants have not received notice that the fee is due. <\/p>\n Cruz said she believes the Trump administration is using these changes as an excuse to dismiss people\u2019s asylum claims. While the president has the power to decide whether to offer or rescind humanitarian programs, such as Temporary Protected Status<\/a>, the right to seek asylum is enshrined in law.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re worried this is a pretext for people to fall out of the asylum system and fall out of the workforce,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n The processing of work permits has already been slowed, leaving many immigrants who still qualify for employment authorization unable to work. <\/p>\n During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last week, Rep. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) asked Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to help him speed up the work permit renewals for two police officers who were recently fired by agencies in his district because their DACA status expired. <\/p>\n Mullin said he would help but that Congress ultimately must pass a permanent solution for DACA recipients. <\/p>\n \u201cThese are police officers on Main Street, sir,\u201d Correa responded.<\/p>\n \u201cNot all of them are,\u201d Mullin said. \u201cI\u2019m not just going to wave a magic wand and fix them all.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou have that magic wand \u2014 that\u2019s your job,\u201d Correa said. <\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just Democrats complaining about slow processing. Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.) similarly asked Mullin for help because many of his constituents \u2014 \u201cfarm workers, youth ministers, nurses, grocery store business managers\u201d \u2014 who have lived and worked in the U.S. legally for decades are now having trouble renewing their visas. <\/p>\n Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, left, and President Trump, center, walk to the motorcade after exiting Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on May 20. <\/p>\n (Kent Nishimura \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Calls for mass deportations<\/p>\n Mullin, who took the reins in March after Trump fired his predecessor, Kristi Noem, rolled back some of Noem\u2019s policies, including telling agents to stop entering homes without judicial warrants and canceling some contracts<\/a> she had initiated. <\/p>\n But the changes and the downturn in arrests have drawn criticism from some fervent Trump supporters. <\/p>\n \u201cTrump\u2019s legacy is tied up in this,\u201d said Mike Howell, a former DHS attorney who founded a group called the Mass Deportation Coalition. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard to tell a younger voter to get excited to show up when one of their top issues is mass deportation and, a year and a half in, it doesn\u2019t appear it\u2019s going full-steam ahead.\u201d <\/p>\n Howell said enforcement at work sites is critical to scaling up arrests and deportations. That more such operations haven\u2019t happened, he said, is a political decision to appease wealthy donors and special interest groups who don\u2019t want to see their workers deported. <\/p>\n The architect of Trump\u2019s immigration agenda is Stephen Miller, a top White House aid who has called for a \u201cmoratorium on immigration<\/a> from third-world countries,\u201d demanded 3,000 arrests per day and said that immigrants and their descendants \u201crecreate the conditions<\/a>, and the terrors, of their broken homelands.\u201d <\/p>\n Royce Bernstein Murray, a former Homeland Security official who worked on immigration policy under the Biden administration, said the winding down of flashy enforcement surges has given the administration more time to \u201cfocus on tearing down the legal immigration system.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThis is Stephen Miller\u2019s sweet spot,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was never in enforcement \u2014 he\u2019s a policy guy. This is really an opportunity for him to make good on all he has planned for years.\u201d <\/p>\n While ICE has, in recent months, returned to its more conventional targeted enforcement tactics, Homan has sought to make clear that mass deportations are still a goal. <\/p>\n \u201cFor the people out there saying \u2018President Trump\u2019s getting weak on mass deportation,\u2019 you don\u2019t know what the hell you\u2019re talking about,\u201d Homan said at the border expo. <\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781268443_58_.jpeg\")
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