New Report: Trump’s Second Term Ushers in Extreme Immigration Overhaul that Threatens Our Democracy

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 23, 2025 — A special report released today offers a sweeping analysis of the Trump administration’s first six months back in office, revealing an unprecedented transformation of the U.S. immigration system that strikes at the foundation of American democracy. While some voters may have supported a “tougher” approach on immigration when voting for Trump, the report describes how the administration’s extreme actions go far beyond policy shifts: they are corrosive to the rule of law itself. 

The report, titled Mass Deportation: Analyzing the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Immigrants, Democracy, and America, published on July 23 by the American Immigration Council, lays out how the administration has executed a radical, multi-front attack on immigrants and the immigration system. 

Read the report here.

These actions have included limiting who can come to the United States, stripping legal protections from those already here, and ramping up enforcement to historic levels. And in the process, the Trump administration has dismantled long-standing legal protections, defied the authority of Congress and the courts, and weaponized government power against immigrants and dissenters alike. 

“This isn’t just a hardline immigration agenda,” said Nayna Gupta, policy director at the American Immigration Council and co-author of the report. “It’s a wholesale effort to use immigrants and the U.S. immigration system to attack core tenets of our democracy and exercise unchecked executive power to realign the American government around exclusion and fear.”

Key findings from the report include:

• The end of asylum. Asylum at the southern border is effectively dead. The administration shut down the CBP One application and did not replace it with anything else. Asylum-seekers who approach a port of entry are turned away, and in some cases, asylum-seekers are being detained indefinitely, even after winning their cases.
• Demolishing the refugee program. The administration indefinitely suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program — except for white South Africans who have been fast-tracked via executive order and under dubious persecution claims. Tens of thousands of approved refugees remain stranded abroad.
• Mass revocation of legal status: The administration aggressively revoked humanitarian parole and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from over a million people in just six months, stripping work permits and pushing many into undocumented status.
• Weaponizing bureaucracy: Legal immigration pathways are being jammed by massive fee hikes, processing freezes, and opaque barriers that make it nearly impossible for even lawful applicants to get or maintain status.
• A maelstrom of fear and chaos: The Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement tactics have caused immigrants of all legal statuses to constantly worry about their daily and future safety in the United States. Anyone can be targeted for arrest, detention, and deportation, and people can be targeted anywhere, including at churches, schools and courthouses.
• A radical reorganization of law enforcement resources: The Trump administration is creating an unprecedented, cross-agency immigration operation that draws on manpower across several federal and state law enforcement agencies and the U.S. military — prioritizing immigration enforcement above all other public safety and law enforcement goals.
• Turbocharging an inhumane detention system. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill Act” enacted in July increases ICE’s detention budget by 308 percent on an annual basis. This sets the government up to radically expand a detention system whose careless and cruel management has already put tens of thousands of immigrants in life-threatening conditions.

The report includes powerful firsthand accounts:

• Ilia, a nonbinary Russian dissident who won their asylum case in court, but nonetheless remained in detention for over a year with no release date. 
• Axel, a DACA recipient and youth leader, is abandoning his job to return to school amid uncertainty over his legal status.
• Beatriz, an immigrant lawyer fighting for noncitizen kids  has seen cases that remind her of her own journey to the U.S. including a confused six-year-old who appeared in court with no representation whatsoever. 
• Kaelyn is going into debt to keep her partner from being deported to El Salvador’s megaprison under the Alien Enemies Act. 

The report warns that while some policies may shift based on legal challenges in court, the administration’s broader agenda is clear: to permanently redefine who belongs in America, and how power is wielded by the federal government.

“The administration’s policies are reshaping the immigration system in ways that are unfair, unlawful, and out of step with core American values,” said Dara Lind, senior fellow at the Council and co-author of the report. “We’re seeing real harm to families, communities, and the rule of law, and the public deserves to understand what’s at stake.”

The full report is available here. Interviews with experts and impacted individuals are also available.

The post New Report: Trump’s Second Term Ushers in Extreme Immigration Overhaul that Threatens Our Democracy  appeared first on American Immigration Council.

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