How Trump’s Presidency May Affect the Immigration Process in 2025: Immigration Lawyers Try to Forecast

During Trump’s first tenure as the president of the United States, he had a ten-point agenda that sparked intense debate amongst citizens and immigrants alike. US immigration lawyers suggest that while few of those agenda were realized, it may be achieved if Trump returns to the presidency in 2025.

This agenda has spread widespread fear during his first tenure, and now that there is a possibility of him returning, the fear continues. Some of the popular agendas that are more discussed than others are mass deportation and border flow control.

Both rumors and facts spreading are leaving people in a constant state of uncertainty about what the future holds. US immigration lawyers have decided to give their expert view about possible changes that immigration processes will go through under Trump’s presidency.

How Trump’s 2025 Policies May Reshape U.S. Immigration Process

Comparing Trump’s immigration approach to prior U.S. administrations will be divided under five (5) categories – mass deportation, asylum, border, legal immigration and other policies.

Trump proposed building a physical wall along the entirety of the US southern border, and forcing Mexico to pay for it. Biden, on the other hand, suspended all border wall construction and redirected funds previously kept for that project.

Previous administrations only considered migrants convicted of serious crimes for deportation. Trump’s administration, on the other hand, considered both migrants convicted of major and minor crimes and those who have not yet been charged for deportation.

Trump issued ICE to detain pregnant women while other administrations prohibited the detention, arrest, or taking into custody of pregnant women.

Where it concerns asylum, migrants waited on metering lists for 9+ months (due to Title 42) during Trump’s administration. Under Biden’s administration, asylum seekers were forced to wait indefinitely at the border until they secure an appointment.

Trump also applied the zero-tolerance policy on all illegal immigration, but Biden rescinded the policy during his tenure. This policy involves arresting migrants who are caught illegally entering the US, and separating their children from them as ‘unaccompanied alien children.’

From the above comparison, it is clear that Trump’s previous policies appear similar to his proposed immigration policies for 2025. How then will Trump’s 2025 policies reshape U.S. Immigration Policies?

Will Trump’s presidency make U.S. immigration stricter in 2025?

Trump proposes mass deportation, ending of birthright citizenship and prioritizing border security measures. Whether these policies will be applied to the latter or there will be room for appeal is yet to determined.

Forecast on how Trump’s border policies could influence asylum applications in 2025

Asylum seekers are likely to increase to 1.5+ million applicants from the previous 71,000 by end of Fiscal year 2024. However, Trump’s new border policies will make it more difficult for migrants to seek asylum.

Even if they get an immigration appointment and can move forward with their case, they will have to wait in the US all through that period.

How Immigration Lawyers View Trump’s Presidency Impact on U.S. Visa Approvals

Expert predictions on immigration law changes under Trump’s  presidency

To know exactly what to expect in 2025, it is advisable to listen to experts (like immigration lawyers) who are already in the system.

Reportedly, the National Foundation for American Policy claims that the immigration authorities approved more than 97% of H1-B visa applications. However, immigration lawyers believe that this high success rate would end if Trump entered office as the new president-elect in 2025.

Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, the senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and a former lawyer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) mentioned in his interview that with Trump’s leadership, visa approvals will get more complicated.

When he worked as a special counsel at the USCIS during the first Trump administration, he expressed that what America experienced or will experience under the Trump administration is a gutting of the system.

Mehlman, FAIR’s media director, said in an interview with VOA that the temporary foreign worker program strayed from its original purpose as foreign nationals used it to get American citizenship.

After Trump issued his Buy American, Hire American executive order, new visa denials soared in 2018 to 24% and started dropping till it got to 13% in 2020.

Now that there is a chance that Trump will return as the U.S. president, nobody knows for certain his plans for the visa program. His administration is expected to achieve the program of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, but immigration lawyers believe that this could affect legal immigrants as well.

Along with the opinion made in The Washington Post, that Trump will restore all his previous immigration policies, the idea that he will give green cards to foreign graduates of American colleges and universities has also been floated.

What International Workers Need to Know About U.S. Immigration Reforms in 2025

With so much uncertainty facing immigrants and international workers, they must know what to expect in the coming year. USA Working holiday visas, which allow young adults to travel and work in the U.S. for a limited time, may also face stricter eligibility requirements or reduced availability under a second Trump administration.

Some people are using the experience in Trump’s first administration to predict what his coming tenure will be like.

Jorge Lopez, Littler Mendelson shareholder and chair of the law firm’s immigration and global mobility practice, said that in 2025, there will be frequent raids at worksites.

Undocumented workers will be caught unawares, arrested and possibly, deported while employers who hire undocumented workers intentionally or unintentionally will have their company audited and probably penalized.

Furthermore, the scrutiny on skilled foreign workers using the H-1B visa will be higher and the criteria will be stricter. Even immigrants who try to fight their immigration case legally may not be able to afford the rising legal fees.

While family reunification visas will not be seriously affected, the proposition under Trump’s administration aimed to make the visa solely merit-based limiting it to only spouses and minor children.

Conclusion

In the coming year, the new immigration policies will affect visa processing such that there will be more delay, scrutiny and increase in fees.

The future of immigrants in the US will only be bleak if they do not have proper guidance during the process. This is why it is important to seek professional legal advice from immigration lawyers.