Resource: U.S. Immigration Policy under Trump: Deep Changes and Lasting Impacts

The fragmented nature of the U.S. political system, in which the executive, the legislature, and the courts— as well as federal, state, and local governments— all have overlapping responsibilities for policy decisions, has made it hard for the Trump administration to pursue its most ambitious initiatives. Congress has had no appetite thus far for major legislation that would decrease the overall number of annual grants of permanent residence or fund a wall; some state and local governments have resisted cooperation with the administration's deportation priorities, blunting their effect; and the courts have stymied a number of the president's other immigration initiatives. As a result, it seems unlikely that President Trump will be able to reshape U.S. immigration policies to the extent that he would like. Yet the broad discretion that presidents have to implement immigration policy gives his administration significant levers to redefine who comes to the country and who is removed from it. Over time, this authority may be sufficient to create important changes in line with the president's stated policy preferences, even without significant legislation.