Under the Radar - The Trump Administration’s Stealth Attack on the U.S. Immigration System

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Asher

Report examining how the Trump administration reshaped U.S. immigration policy through widely visible and less-public measures. It outlines a shift toward blocking humanitarian relief, eliminating pathways to legal immigration, threatening citizenship protections, and driving forcible family separations. It also describes intensified enforcement and the remaking of immigration courts to accelerate deportations and erode due process rights. The document further frames immigration status categories and visa systems to provide context for these impacts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages30

Reading Time1 h 16 min

AccessFree to download

Executive actions and barriers to relief

Enforcement and deportation impact

Immigration courts and due process

Under the Radar: The Trump Administration’s Stealth Attack on the U.S. Immigration System Prepared by the office of U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) Under the Radar: The Trump Administration’s Stealth Attack on the U.S. Immigration System Since the day that Donald Trump announced his presidential campaign in June 2015, he made plain the vitriol and animus towards immigrants that would mark his presidency. His now infamous quote vilifying Mexican immigrants—“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” — foreshadowed the anti-immigrant sentiment that pervades his administration. As president, Donald Trump has enacted a series of high-profile policy changes that target immigrants and the communities in which they reside. His Muslim travel ban, retaliation against so-called sanctuary cities, decisions to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections, threat to end birthright citizenship, the forcible family separations resulting from his zero tolerance policy, and high-profile decisions to rescind protections for vast numbers of immigrants, President Trump has rewritten the rules to make it as difficult as possible for immigrants to obtain or retain legal status in the United States. Whether by preventing immigrants from obtaining humanitarian protections, eliminating pathways to legal immigration, or denying immigration benefits, this administration wants to shut the doors on those lawfully seeking entry to our country and imperil the legal status of those already here. The second section details how immigrants have been subject to the relentless enforcement activities of the Trump administration. The Trump administration has been employing draconian enforcement policies and aggressive policing practices. In effect, the administration has empowered a merciless deportation force. most recently, his declaration of a national emergency to construct a wall on our southern border, all garnered widespread attention and shook the public’s conscience. But not all the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants have been so visible. In its first two years, the administration has enacted some of the most alarming and far-reaching actions to date without public awareness. Through a relentless barrage of executive orders, memoranda, guidance, rulemaking, and informal directives, President Trump has surreptitiously remade our immigration system. Though sometimes obscure, the policy shifts have upended the lives of immigrants. This report seeks to pull back the curtain and shed light on the sweeping changes that have been occurring without fanfare, but with destructive consequences. Through a relentless barrage of executive orders, memoranda, guidance, rulemaking, and informal directives, President Trump has surreptitiously remade our immigration system. brazenly citing The closing off of longstanding avenues to relief for immigrants addressed in section one, and the expanded enforcement actions against them discussed in section two, reflect the Trump administration’s twin aims of barricading the country from current and future migration and unabashedly targeting immigrants already here. In practice, President Trump has manufactured an unforgiving and ever-growing path to deportation, denial, and exclusion. The final section covers policy changes affecting our immigration courts. The Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is responsible for adjudicating immigration cases. Under the Trump administration, EOIR has drastically reshaped our immigration courts to hasten deportations and undermine immigrants’ due process rights —the Trump-created surge of immigration cases as justification for hurrying By reviewing the near totality of the Trump administration’s actions during the first two years of the president’s term, we can see that these policy changes all fun

FAQs

What is the report’s main focus?

The report focuses on sweeping changes to the U.S. immigration system during the first two years of the Trump administration, including hidden executive actions and their destructive consequences.

How does the report describe the administration’s approach to immigration relief and legal status?

It describes efforts to close longstanding avenues to relief, limit humanitarian protections, reduce pathways to legal immigration, and make it harder for immigrants to obtain or keep lawful status.

What does the report say about enforcement and immigration courts?

It describes intensified enforcement through draconian policies and aggressive policing, and it states that EOIR reshaped immigration courts to hasten deportations and undermine due process rights.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Asher