In this screenshot from the RNC’s livestream of the 2020 Republican National Convention, Donald . [+] Trump hosts a naturalization ceremony for new citizens in a pre-recorded video broadcasted during the virtual convention on August 25, 2020. (Photo Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee via Getty Images)
Photo Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee
At the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump and his supporters have given the impression that Trump administration policy, while tough on illegal immigration, has been welcoming to legal immigrants, people trying to become American citizens and refugees fleeing government persecution. Below is a review of Trump administration policies on legal immigration from 2017 to the present.
Legal Immigration Cut in Half, Most Categories Blocked: By 2021, Donald Trump will have reduced legal immigration by 49% since becoming president – without any change in U.S. immigration law, according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis. An April presidential proclamation blocked the entry of legal immigrants to the United States in almost all categories.
Reducing legal immigration most harms refugees, employers and Americans who want to live with their spouses, parents or children, but it also affects the country’s future labor force and economic growth: “Average annual labor force growth, a key component of the nation’s economic growth, will be approximately 59% lower as a result of the administration’s immigration policies, if the policies continue,” according to the National Foundation for American Policy.
The Most Highly Skilled Foreign-Born Blocked or Denied at High Rates: The denial rate on new H-1B petitions for high-skilled foreign nationals has increased from 6% in FY 2015 to 30% in FY 2020. A June 2020 presidential proclamation suspended the entry of foreign nationals on H-1B and L-1 (intracompany transferees) visas.
As reported in August, “Today, even the most highly skilled individuals in the world cannot enter America under the Trump administration’s immigration policy. Reports from attorneys and a statement from the State Department confirm that U.S. consular officers in Europe are denying O-1 visas for individuals with ‘extraordinary ability’ based on a health pretext.”
MORE FROM FORBES ADVISORRefugees and Asylum Seekers, including from Venezuela, Denied: At least one speaker at the convention discussed the protection Americans once offered Cuban refugees and spoke sympathetically about the victims of Venezuela’s socialist government. For FY 2020, the Trump administration established an annual ceiling for refugees 84% lower than the final year of the Obama administration (from 110,000 down to 18,000). As of July 17, 2020, only 7,848 refugees have arrived in the United States in FY 2020.
As of December 2019, 24,451 Venezuelans were in U.S. immigration court facing removal, an increase of 277%, from 6,492 in September 2018, reports the Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). “Rather than make things easier for fleeing Venezuelans, the Trump administration has tightened asylum standards,” according to Miami New Times reporter Manuel Madrid, who writes that many Venezuelans consider being deported to Venezuela to be a death sentence.
Despite pleas from religious leaders, the administration has not designated Venezuelans for Temporary Protected Status and has continued to deport people back to Venezuela. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed more than 900 people to Venezuela between 2017 and 2019. In FY 2016, the last full year of the Obama administration, 182 Venezuelans were removed, compared to 327 in FY 2019 under the Trump administration, an 80% increase.
Asylum seekers from Cuba and Venezuela (and Central America) who try to enter the United States and apply for asylum would be unlikely to obtain a hearing under current administration policies at the U.S. border. New asylum regulations also make it difficult for those fleeing persecution to be approved if they receive a hearing.
A Significant Increase in Denials for Military Naturalizations: The denial rate for military naturalizations increased from 7% in FY 2016 to 17% in FY 2019, a 143% increase in the denial rate, according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis. Due to policy decisions, between FY 2016 and FY 2019 the number of immigrants in the military who naturalized dropped by 54%, from 8,606 in FY 2016 to 3,987 in FY 2019.
On August 25, 2020, the same day a naturalization ceremony was held at the White House, a federal court ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to make it more difficult for active-duty service members to become American citizens. “A federal court today ruled that the Trump administration’s policy of depriving military service members of an expedited path to citizenship is unlawful,” reported the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “The ruling comes in a lawsuit, Samma v. U.S. Department of Defense, filed by the ACLU on behalf of eight non-citizen U.S. service members who represent a class of thousands in uniform.”
Naturalization Slowed and Ceremonies Stopped for Many Applicants: The five people who received naturalization at the White House on August 25, 2020, were fortunate. Over 100,000 immigrants have been waiting to become U.S. citizens due to administration policies. In March, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) closed offices and for months would not provide alternative methods for completing the citizenship process, such as administering oaths virtually or incorporating social distancing in naturalization ceremonies.
While naturalization ceremonies slowly came back, it is likely many immigrants will not be citizens in time to vote in the November election, due, in part, to long delays in processing. (See also this report from Boundless, which has estimated as many as 300,000 immigrants may not gain citizenship before November.)
On August 3, 2020, the administration significantly increased the fees for immigrants to become American citizens, increasing the cost of the application (N-400) to become a U.S. citizen by more than 80%, from $640 to $1,160 (for online filings, although a separate $85 biometrics fee would be eliminated).
Some have wondered about the Trump campaign’s motivations for presenting a picture of its immigration policies that differs from the policies the administration implemented over the past three and a half years. The Washington Post’s Fact Checker Glenn Kessler asked, “Hmm, wouldn't a speech by Stephen Miller at this point better reflect the president's immigration policies in the past three years than this naturalization ceremony?” Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell replied, “Exactly. If Trump's (anti-)immigration agenda is so great, why not defend it on the merits? Why misrepresent what it actually does, by pretending Trump welcomes political refugees and newly-naturalized immigrants?”