Mar 24, 2019 6 min read

Editor’s note: This is the second of two parts.

”Shall we refuse the unhappy fugitives from distress that hospitality which the savages of the wilderness extended to our fathers arriving in this land? Shall oppressed humanity find no asylum on this globe?” Thomas Jefferson, First Report to Congress

Part one of this commentary reviewed the history that brought our forefathers to America. What follows is a summary of the Trump administration’s concerted effort in 2018 to reverse years of legal immigration policy. While there were other egregious attacks on legal immigration that took place in 2017, the most significant actions took place last year. If such a hostile immigration environment had been permitted to take hold in previous generations, most of us would not be Americans today.

• Despite the fact that the number of displaced people is at the highest level since WWII, the Trump administration lowered the refugee cap for 2018 to 45,000 and then only admitted half that number, 22,491, the lowest number in 40 years.
• Immigration authorities in 2018 denied 37 percent more filings related to immigration including travel documents, work permits and green cards.
• The number of immigrants who received visas to move permanently to the United States, normally highly skilled workers, dropped 12 percent in 2018.
• The Trump administration began seeking a regulatory policy change in 2018 to deny the spouses of H-1B visas, the right to work. If this change receives final clearance, more than 100,000 spouses could lose their jobs.
• In 2018 the administration separated thousands of children from their families. The humanitarian crisis that resulted was blamed on the Latin American families with young children fleeing violence and oppression rather than on the misplaced policy which had been set in motion with no method of uniting the families in the future. Internal administration documents have revealed that the program was designed as a threat to cut the flow of families seeking legal asylum.
• The separation of families was exasperated on April 6, 2018, when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announc
• ed his “zero tolerance” policy to criminally prosecute asylum seekers who were not afforded a timely review at ports of entry and crossed the border without inspection. This policy was in direct opposition to immigration laws passed by Congress. In short order, 3,000 children wer
• e forcibly separated from their families.
• Throughout 2018 the Trump administration systematically ended temporary protection status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who fled natural, criminal and political disasters. When deadlines came up for certain countries, the administration simply refused to “redesignate” a TPS for each country. This placed immigrant from those countries in immediate peril of deportation and made it impossible for new individuals to be classified under TPS. The countries most affected by this policy were Salvador, Haiti, Nepal, Honduras, Syria and Yemen.
• In May and June 2018, the number of individuals permitted to enter the country to seek asylum dropped by 42 percent. This was due in great part to new implementation rules adopted by the administration. First, more restrictive guidelines for the first screening interview, narrowed the qualifications for entry. Second, the Department of Homeland Security exasperated backlogs under a new policy of “metering” that limited the number of individuals seen each day at ports of entry. The hope was that long waits would turn the asylum seekers around. Third, the administration began limiting the “credible fear” test for asylum to “persecutions by the government” and by removing “gang violence” as a factor to be used in granting asylum. (There is great irony in this, given Trump’s use of the horrors of Latino gang violence as a reason to wall-in the border.)
• The Department of Justice sought to make major changes in the asylum process by making the immigration court system more restrictiv
• e. First, a long held requirement that asylum seekers receive a full hearing before an immigration judge was eliminated. Second, after an asylum seeker passed the “credible fear screening” test they must now remain in detention, unable to collect the data needed to be granted asylum. Third, there have been administration attempts, not yet implemented, to
• charge $50 for an asylum application.
• In June, 2018, President Trump nixed congressional attempts to address the backlog of immigration cases by increasing the number of immigration judges.

There are other actions taken by Trump and his minions of political appointees throughout the federal government designed to undermine legal immigration. The above examples are merely the highlights. What I hope is clear is that none of these policies has anything to do with illegal immigration, or building a wall, or providing more security for the American people.

Whatever one thinks about the ACLU, we must be grateful at the fortitude of this organization in swiftly filing lawsuits to protect the recognized rights of immigrants. The ACLU’S guiding principle is that when the government has the power to deny legal rights and due process to one vulnerable group, everyone’s rights are at risk. The ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project is dedicated to expanding and enforcing the civil liberties and civil rights of immigrants and in combatting public and private discrimination against them. In 2018 they were busy filing lawsuits around the country … and winning.

It would be a mistake to assume that America’s approach to immigration was a fair and equitable one prior to 2016. Before Trump was elected president, our immigration system was already in need of major repair. For example, individuals from many countries were forced to wait for decades to receive a green card. Workers without college decrees only received 5,000 green cards despite the overwhelming need for agricultural workers. There was no immigration category for entrepreneurs who wanted to start a business. There was an unreasonable cap on immigrants with “extraordinary abilities” (scientists, business leaders, professional athletes).

Now that Trump has placed the spotlight on immigration by attempting to further destabilize a troubled system, it would be a good time for a more enlightened Congress to consider and overhaul all aspects of immigration. We need to return to the fundamental belief that “all are welcome.” Unfortunately, the present policies tell the world: America is closed to those who need our help the most.

Gary Stout is a Washington attorney.