President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered the removal of more than 440,000 asylum seekers during his first 19 months back in office, surpassing the total from the prior eight years combined, according to a Washington Post analysis.
The Washington Post reported that the administration has expanded arrests of asylum applicants at airports, traffic stops, government interviews, and other locations. Immigration judges have also moved cases through the courts more quickly, allowing the government to issue removal orders at an unprecedented pace.
The effort has reached people who filed asylum applications and received work permits but lack a separate immigration status. Federal officials maintain that an unresolved asylum request does not itself authorize a person to remain in the country.
“America’s asylum system was never intended to be used as a de facto amnesty program or a catch-all, get-out-of-deportation-free card,” DHS said in a statement.
The system has long allowed migrants to request asylum after arriving inside the country, provided they assert fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Unlike the refugee program, which establishes annual admission limits and processes applicants from abroad, asylum carries no numerical cap.
Trump has argued for years that migrants exploit the lack of a cap and the years-long court backlog to enter the country, seek asylum, and remain while their cases proceed. The Washington Post noted that even Democratic officials have acknowledged that asylum laws have become outdated and dysfunctional.
Under new policies described by the Washington Post, immigration judges may deny claims without full evidentiary hearings in certain circumstances. The administration also made it more difficult for applicants alleging domestic abuse or gang violence to obtain protection, instructed asylum officers to place some cases directly into removal proceedings, and pursued visa revocations involving up to 200,000 foreign nationals who sought asylum.
Former Trump DHS official Ken Cuccinelli said the current administration is using a more systematic approach than it did during Trump’s first term.
“They learned from what I would characterize as the more haphazard approach of the last administration,” Cuccinelli said, “and they’re doing a much better job this time.”
The previous administration presided over unprecedented illegal border crossings and an asylum backlog that grew from roughly 1 million to nearly 3 million cases, according to the Washington Post. Trump’s initial measures have begun restoring enforcement, but a durable solution requires Congress and the executive branch to close the loopholes that let unmeritorious claims become years long permission to live and work in the United States.
Ultimately, the United States requires tighter limits on both legal and illegal migration, not merely faster processing of an overburdened asylum pipeline. The Trump administration’s asylum enforcement is a necessary first step, but the United States needs stricter eligibility rules, swift removals for unsuccessful applicants, and immigration levels that serve American workers, security, and national cohesion.
