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🇳🇮 Nicaragua /Crime & Justice

US Halves Green Card Approvals, Triples Migrant Arrests Under Trump: Report

From Confidencial · (5m ago) Spanish Critical tone

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • The U.S. has seen a nearly 50% decrease in green card approvals since early 2025, coinciding with a tripling of immigration arrests.
  • A report by the Cato Institute suggests the Department of Homeland Security is intentionally slowing green card processing to facilitate more arrests by ICE.
  • This strategy aims to prevent immigrants from obtaining or extending legal status, making them easier to deport.

The United States, under the Trump administration, appears to be employing a deliberate strategy to curb immigration by making it harder for individuals to obtain legal residency. A report from the conservative Cato Institute highlights a stark decline in green card approvals, nearly halving since early 2025. Simultaneously, immigration arrests have tripled, suggesting a coordinated effort to increase deportations.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) suspended the processing of many "green card" applications, allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest legal immigrants, including refugees, people with conditional protection, and spouses of U.S. citizens.

— David J. BierExplaining the DHS's actions and their impact on legal immigration.

According to the report's author, David J. Bier, the Department of Homeland Security has suspended the processing of numerous green card applications. This action effectively allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest legal immigrants, including refugees and those with conditional status. The data indicates a significant drop in approved resident cards, from 65,000 in January 2025 to 34,000 in January 2026. This contrasts sharply with the surge in ICE detentions, which rose from 12,348 to over 38,000 in the same period.

The suspension of applications for resident cards is a deliberate effort to boost ICE arrests by frustrating people's efforts to stay on the right side of the law.

— David J. BierDescribing the administration's strategy behind reduced green card processing.

Bier argues that this reduction in legal pathways is a calculated move to bolster ICE's arrest numbers. By hindering immigrants' ability to maintain or obtain legal status, the administration creates a prerequisite for removal. This includes a 20% decrease in family-sponsored green cards and the suspension of immigration processing for 19 countries, later expanded to 40. The underlying objective seems to be a mass deportation campaign, where limiting legal avenues is a crucial component.

The suspension of several pathways to the "green card" has allowed ICE to increase arrests of people who would otherwise have had legal status or would have been protected from arrest. Removing their legal status is a necessary precondition for removing people from the country.

— David J. BierConcluding on the link between reduced legal status and increased deportations.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Confidencial in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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