The past year has seen a large shift in immigration law enforcement and rule-making against undocumented immigrants. President Donald Trump’s battle over immigration has taken him across the globe and the country. His impact can be directly felt in El Salvador, the streets of Los Angeles, the U.S.-Mexico border and universities and courts across America. Changing focus, the administration has begun implementing policies to restrict those attempting to legally immigrate to the U.S.
These changes include revamping the civics test, implementing a local passport requirement for diversity immigration, limiting the time certain visa holders can stay and beginning the “Gold Card” program.
The new policies that target the broadest groups of immigrants increase scrutiny on individuals seeking immigration benefits. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency has bolstered various programs to expand biometric data collection by 60% and assess immigrants who “promote antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations and antisemitic ideologies” during their screening process.
The policy alert gives the agency full discretion to determine whether an immigrant holds “anti-American” views. This means that someone who has properly completed the immigration process can be monitored without reason or denied if their views do not align with the USCIS.
On Sept. 18, the Department of Homeland Security announced its new naturalization civics test. Anyone looking to become a U.S. citizen after Oct. 20 will face a test with a new bank of questions. The new test will require prospective citizens to correctly answer 12 out of 20 fill-in-the-blank questions, compared to the previous 6 out of 10. It draws from a bank of 128 questions, instead of 100, that immigrants are expected to study. The new question bank, now lined with stars on the top and bottom, includes questions covering the Founding Fathers and the Federalist Papers.
Students and researchers are also now required to renew their non-immigrant visas every four years. Students and researchers have typically been able to stay in the U.S. for the duration of their activity, job or education. Now, international students and other migrants in the country for a limited time will have to renew their visas every four years or face deportation. A DHS spokesperson stated the policy will reduce “abuse” where “foreign students and other visa holders remain in the U.S. virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing [an] untold amount of taxpayer dollars and disadvantaging U.S. citizens.”
Since 1995, the U.S. has used a lottery system to issue immigrant visas to individuals in countries with relatively low immigration rates. The initiative grants 50,000 of these visas annually “to diversify the immigrant population in the United States.” A new Trump administration policy will require applicants to have a valid passport, adding an extra cost to the process. When the policy was first instituted in 2019, worldwide applications dropped to half by 2021, with the greatest differences being in African countries. A court later struck down the rule in 2022.
The Gold Card program will allow migrants who contribute a “gift” to the U.S. to have their application process expedited. Applicants can give $1 million for themselves or $2 million to sponsor someone else to receive the benefits of the gold card.
Of all of the changes in the past two months, the Gold Card is the only one that will make immigration more accessible. Most other policies implemented by the Trump administration erect barriers to immigration and citizenship with the goal of “ending illegal immigration and prioritizing the admission of aliens who will affirmatively benefit the Nation.”
