Trump Officials Now Restricting All Legal Immigration Categories

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The Trump administration is restricting all legal immigration categories in an effort to reduce the flow of immigrants to America. The restrictions include freezes by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and State Department officials refusing to process applications abroad. The policies affect U.S. citizens sponsoring spouses, children and other family members to join them in America, as well as employers seeking workers. Analysts note the U.S. economy requires more workers to grow, but the administration’s actions reduce the labor supply.

Led by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the chief architect of Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, the policies are having a significant impact. “The Trump administration’s policies will reduce legal immigration to the United States by an estimated 33% to 50%, or by 1.5 million to 2.4 million legal immigrants, by the end of Donald Trump’s four-year term,” according to a January 2026 National Foundation for American Policy analysis.

An earlier NFAP report factored in labor contraction due to other immigration policies, including on deportation and ending Temporary Protected Status, and concluded, “Due to fewer workers in the labor force, the Trump administration’s immigration policies would lead to a potential labor loss to the U.S. economy of approximately 19 million worker years by 2028 and 102 million worker years by 2035. The policies would reduce the projected cumulative goods and services produced in America by $1.9 trillion, or $5,612 per person, from 2025 to 2028, and by $12.1 trillion, or $34,369 per person, from 2025 to 2035.” The analysis found the policies would also reduce economic growth by approximately one-third and increase the federal debt.

Immigration Restrictions Cut Across Categories

The Trump administration’s policies affect all immigration categories. Trump officials have refused to process cases for approximately 55,000 Diversity Visas, a category the administration sought to eliminate during Donald Trump’s first term. Instead of trying again to change or abolish the category through legislation, officials have barred anyone from entering or adjusting status as a Diversity Visa winner. Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem justified suspending the category by citing a shooter at Brown University who gained permanent residence in the Diversity Visa lottery eight years earlier. The individual killed two people at Brown, an MIT professor and himself.

The Washington Post editorialized, “Taken together, the Trump policy seems to be: wait for something bad to happen, and then restrict as much immigration as possible.” Applicants enter the lottery from countries underrepresented in other immigration categories. Israel, Australia, Finland, France and Japan are among the places with citizens eligible for the FY 2026 Diversity Visa lottery. Despite lawsuits, it appears the administration will run out the clock and nullify the category. “Selectees who do not receive visas or status by September 30, 2026, will derive no further benefit from their DV-2026 registration,” according to the State Department.

The Trump administration also has stopped all refugees from entering the United States except white people from South Africa. Allowing only white people to become refugees is a development even Trump’s fiercest critics failed to predict before Trump’s second term. NFAP estimates that by freezing and then reducing annual refugee admission levels to well below the 125,000 ceiling established in the last year of the Biden administration, the Trump administration reduced projected legal immigration by about 470,000 over four years.

The most significant impact of a Dec. 16 proclamation will be on the individuals affected, employers that wish to hire them, U.S. citizens who want to sponsor close relatives for immigration and U.S. universities hoping to enroll these individuals as students. Under the proclamation, nationals of 39 countries cannot enter the United States, to varying degrees, on immigrant or temporary visas. The 39 countries include Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Afghanistan and Haiti.

On January 14, 2026, the administration announced, “The State Department will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people.”

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Employer-sponsored immigrants are also facing new problems. A proposed rule may price many H-1B visa holders and employment-based immigrants out of the U.S. labor market by changing prevailing wage levels. A rule placed on the regulatory agenda to change labor certification could make it more difficult for employment-based immigrants to obtain permanent residence by expanding employer obligations for PERM or permanent labor certification.

Trump officials have significantly reduced legal immigration in 2026 and will continue to do so in 2027 and 2028. American citizens barred from living in the United States with close family members, including spouses, will bear the brunt of the policies, along with the economy. “What amazes me about Trump’s mass deportation agenda is how much of the focus and financial resources are really on eliminating legal immigration,” said Curtis Morrison of Red Eagle Law. “And they’re not embarrassed about that.”

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