Immigration, Crime, and Policy Power in Trump’s Second Term

The second administration of Donald Trump has taken a different tack from the first. It sees immigration as a tool that can be tightened by tying policy changes to crime statistics. US Customs and Immigration Enforcement now patrol more heavily in Washington, Chicago, and Louisiana than it did under President Trump’s first term. The extra presence signals a new priority for the administration. At the same time, visa rules have been reshaped to rely on isolated criminal incidents among immigrants as justification for stricter measures. Even though foreigners account for a small proportion of U. S. crime, these actions are used as leverage by the State Department. In March 2024, Trump announced a plan to deport pro‑Palestinian student protester Rümeysa Öztürk, who held an F‑1 visa. He then revoked her status after she published an opinion piece about Israel. The same month the administration arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate and human‑rights organizer from Palestine, treating him as a student before later confirming his permanent‑resident status. By April, the White House began cutting over a thousand international students’ visas and halted new F‑1 issuances for two months. The pause was lifted later, but consular officers were told to check applicants’ social‑media profiles for political views and to hold visas in a state of “administrative refusal” until they satisfied that the applicant had not spoken or posted against U. S. interests.As of November 2025, more than eight thousand students have lost their visas because of this process. A few days after the second term began, reports surfaced of an expanded travel ban. On June 1 2025 a fire in Boulder, Colorado killed one person and injured over twelve people; it was carried out by an Egyptian national. Trump responded with a new proclamation that tightened entry limits on several countries while still allowing diplomats, Olympic athletes, and certain minority refugees from Iran to enter more easily. The list of restricted nations included Iran, Venezuela, Yemen, Libya, Cuba, and Haiti. In the third quarter the administration raised its focus again, this time on work visas for truck drivers. After an Indian driver caused a fatal traffic crash in Florida in August, Trump announced plans to cancel visa pathways for truck drivers. The move came amid growing opposition to H‑1B visas; Trump promised a $100, 000 application fee that would make the visa effectively inaccessible for many applicants. A week earlier the administration had reviewed Afghan asylum approvals after an Afghan national killed two members of the West Virginia National Guard in a shooting. On November 28 it paused all visas for Afghan nationals and promised to permanently halt “third‑world” migration, as well as all asylum. Congressional Republicans have backed this trajectory through the “Pause” Act, which would freeze immigration and restrict statutory benefits for some visa holders while barring H‑1B workers from adjusting status to permanent residence.