Talk:Donald Trump achievements: Immigration and border security

Defunding "sanctuary" cities

This is an interesting development, but it remains to be seen if/when the U.S. government will actually withhold the money from the cities.[1][2] --1990'sguy (talk) 23:36, 22 May 2017 (EDT)

The DOJ just announced (again) it would withhold funds from "sanctuary" cities. We'll see what happens.[3][4][5][6][7][8] --1990'sguy (talk) 22:54, 25 July 2017 (EDT)

AG Sessions is again threatening to defund "sanctuary" cities, this time four of them.[9][10][11] It seems very hard for the DOJ to unilaterally take any actions against those cities and counties, as we've seen these threats several times already this year. Hopefully, they will be able to do something about this. --1990'sguy (talk) 15:43, 3 August 2017 (EDT)

More reports on this defunding.[12][13] --1990'sguy (talk) 23:44, 4 August 2017 (EDT)

A federal judge ruled against this policy but left part of it intact: [14] --1990'sguy (talk) 18:54, 16 September 2017 (EDT)

AG Sessions gave "sanctuary" cities until October 27 to prove they are complying with federal immigration law.[15][16][17][18] As a side note, Sessions criticized California's "sanctuary" city law about a month ago.[19] --1990'sguy (talk) 23:15, 12 October 2017 (EDT)

According to Sessions, some "sanctuary" cities are reconsidering their status after the final warning: [20] --1990'sguy (talk) 11:52, 13 October 2017 (EDT)

The DOJ is issuing another warning to 29 "sanctuary" cities.[21][22][23] --1990'sguy (talk) 18:49, 15 November 2017 (EST)

"Bureaucratic mess"

The Trump Administration could have trouble implementing its illegal immigration policies due to bureaucratic issues, such as lack of funding and, thus, lack of manpower to enforce immigration law.[24] --1990'sguy (talk) 14:40, 4 July 2017 (EDT)

Tracking visa overstays: starting 2018 (expected)

The DHS states they will begin tracking visa overstays in 2018.[25] It hasn't started yet, so I cannot add it now, but it is something to look out for. --1990'sguy (talk) 19:10, 13 July 2017 (EDT)

Immigration statements

President Trump stated he supports a "comprehensive immigration plan" and that not the entire U.S.–Mexico needs a wall (and that the solar panels are serious). Interesting statements. We'll see what happens. --1990'sguy (talk) 19:14, 13 July 2017 (EDT)

Actually, when reading the transcript, Trump made numerous conservative statements, such as border security, along with non-border statements, such as being against regulations and bureaucracy. --1990'sguy (talk) 14:04, 14 July 2017 (EDT)

ICE crackdowns

The acting ICE Director is stating he will deploy more ICE agents to crack down on illegal immigrants in "sanctuary" cities.[26][27][28] I will add this when it happens, if it is not appropriate to add yet. --1990'sguy (talk) 00:21, 20 July 2017 (EDT)

ICE is also planning raid on teenage gang members.[29][30][31] --1990'sguy (talk) 21:19, 22 July 2017 (EDT)

There were rumors that ICE would conduct a major operation to crack down on illegals: [32] They denied it, but hopefully this major crackdown will become reality. --1990'sguy (talk) 10:31, 8 September 2017 (EDT)

ICE is threatening "at-large arrests" in California since it became a "sanctuary" state: [33][34][35][36][37] --1990'sguy (talk) 23:18, 6 October 2017 (EDT)

According to ICE Director Thomas Homan, ICE will expand its enforcement of immigration laws regarding companies.[38][39][40] Hopefully, it will follow through. --1990'sguy (talk) 22:52, 18 October 2017 (EDT)

Immigration-related government employees

ICE wants to double its number of employees by 2023.[41] We'll see if it's successful. --1990'sguy (talk) 22:45, 14 November 2017 (EST)

Meanwhile, the Border Patrol is 2,000 employees short of its mandated 2,000 agents it is required to employ.[42] --1990'sguy (talk) 10:40, 16 November 2017 (EST)

Proposed vetting improvements

The Trump Administration is working on new vetting measures. We'll see what happens with this. --1990'sguy (talk) 14:04, 14 July 2017 (EDT)

Here is another recent article about proposed vetting improvements: [43] --1990'sguy (talk) 11:21, 19 September 2017 (EDT)

Illegal immigrants with government jobs!?

It's what could happen if this spending bill becomes law, according to Breitbart: [44] --1990'sguy (talk) 21:53, 14 July 2017 (EDT)

Some Republicans are trying to take this out: [45] --1990'sguy (talk) 22:43, 17 July 2017 (EDT)

Proposed deportation expansion changes

[46][47] This will be interesting and good news if adopted. Congress is not needed for this, so we'll see what happens. --1990'sguy (talk) 21:31, 15 July 2017 (EDT)

Very nice--I hope it gets done. We need all the help we can get at cleaning up this place. Hopefully, people will start realizing that coming here illegally really doesn't work, and start coming in the proper way. It will be a good step, at least. --David B ^(TALK) 21:59, 15 July 2017 (EDT)

According to the DHS, illegal parents who smuggled their children into the country will be targeted for priority deportation: [48] --1990'sguy (talk) 11:46, 26 September 2017 (EDT)

2017 deportion/arrests statistics

According to this article, although illegal immigrant arrests are up compared to the Obama Administration, deportations are occurring at a slower rate than the Obama Administration. --1990'sguy (talk) 23:48, 11 August 2017 (EDT)

WaPo is reporting the same thing: more arrests, fewer deportations: [49] --1990'sguy (talk) 21:53, 29 September 2017 (EDT)

Refugees: 50,000 limit

I removed this info from the article:

• The number of refugees entering the country in 2017 exceeded the 50,000 limit that the Administration originally imposed on admissions, at least partially due to the partial implementation, rather than a full implementation, of President Trump's travel ban imposed by the Supreme Court.

I did so because I think it is best to wait until the year is over. There is a lot of uncertainty over the whole refugee situation, so it is too early to decide whether this is a success or failure. If refugee entry levels are significantly lower than last year, I think we could add this as a success, even if levels were higher than the 50,000 limit. --1990'sguy (talk) 23:12, 15 July 2017 (EDT)

Further refugee limit developments

The Trump Administration is considering capping refugee admissions again at 50,000 for next year, even though some advisors want a lower limit: [50][51] --1990'sguy (talk) 08:58, 13 September 2017 (EDT)

Official 2018 level: 45,000 --> official yet?

The Trump Administration announced that the 2018 refugee program will be capped at 45,000 for 2018.[52][53][54][55][56] However, the Administration could have suspended the program or reduced it further.[57] My question is whether the level of 45,000 is only a proposal which could change, or if will happen. The wording in many of these articles makes it seem like a proposal that could be changed or be rejected. --1990'sguy (talk) 23:44, 27 September 2017 (EDT)

Temporary guest worker visas? Add this as a failure or success?

The DHS announced it would give out an additional 15,000 guest worker visas under pressure from Congress.[58] This is out of 66,000 cap on the total number of additional visas. Businesses that receive these visas must prove that they will suffer severe losses if they do not get the visas,[59][60] but according to Breitbart, this requirement is not as strong as reported.[61] Should I add this at all? If so, is it a success for being only 15,000 visas and having to prove severe damage, or a failure because the DHS caved into Congress and issues additional visas at all? --1990'sguy (talk) 15:46, 17 July 2017 (EDT)

Your phrase, "66,000 cap on the total number of additional visas" is unclear. There are many types of visas, and the 66,000 cap appears to apply to H2B visas, but they are not "seasonal" and most are not "agricultural". The argument for seasonal agricultural visas are that no Americans want that type of back-breaking work picking crops, and that low-cost immigrant seasonal labor keeps the cost of food inexpensive. The argument for limiting H2B visas is to keep those (typically high-skilled) jobs for Americans. Employers want more, but American workers want less. The current US immigration system is a mess, as John Kelly is the first to admit. So, absent major reforms, it is hard to see an "achievement" in this miserable system. JDano (talk) 21:22, 18 July 2017 (EDT)

I would actually call it a failure. Caving to pressure from the left and RINOS is never something good. They always use this argument of "these are jobs that Americans don't want" but that is quite simply rubbish. There have been numerous incidents where illegal aliens are thrown out of a company such a meat processing plan in the mid-west, and citizens will come for the jobs. At that meat processing plant, for example, there was a standing line at the facility the next morning, consisting of legal citizens looking for work. No, this is a failure--more domestic jobs are being handed out to foreigners while some of our own people still suffer from having little if any employment. --David B ^(TALK) 22:01, 18 July 2017 (EDT)

Do you think it's major enough to add to the article? --1990'sguy (talk) 22:04, 18 July 2017 (EDT)

I think it might be worth adding for now, but trimming out later if we start running out or real estate again. It's up to you, though. In general, it goes to an over-arching failure to push more of them out and keep them out. This could almost be a sub-bullet point under a general failure to deal with illegals. However, the much greater problem is still the ones here without visas, so this is comparatively minor. --David B ^(TALK) 22:17, 18 July 2017 (EDT)

Although planning to remove things later is easier said than done--it's easy to forget about such things. I suppose you could put in HTML comments on things of lesser importance which could be later removed, if you wanted to be very serious about it...--David B ^(TALK) 22:19, 18 July 2017 (EDT)

I do appreciate your suggestion on how to save space, but I would rather not trim out substantive info unless the achievement/failure turns out not to be as it seemed (never took effect, nothing came out of it, etc.). If you think this failure is not as major as others (and I am completely open on this), what would you think of just leaving it here and then going back to the talk page later? --1990'sguy (talk) 22:23, 18 July 2017 (EDT)

Wall prototype construction

Preparations are underway for the DHS's wall prototypes.[62] --1990'sguy (talk) 23:56, 19 July 2017 (EDT)

The DHS today waived environmental rules in preparation for upgrading wall segments and building the prototypes.[63][64][65][66] --1990'sguy (talk) 14:39, 1 August 2017 (EDT)

DHS Secretary waived over 36 laws.[67] --1990'sguy (talk) 22:11, 1 August 2017 (EDT)

It's surprising that they are not using those laws to block him as much as possible. --David B ^(TALK) 10:23, 5 August 2017 (EDT)

The prototype has been delayed until fall: [68] DavidB4, yes, it is surprising. Liberals have been using such laws, as well as courts, to try to block a lot of other Trump Administration actions, however. --1990'sguy (talk) 09:11, 23 August 2017 (EDT)

The Trump Administration announced four contractors who will build the wall prototypes.[69][70][71][72][73] --1990'sguy (talk) 18:38, 31 August 2017 (EDT)

The Trump Administration is already pledging $2.4 billion for the wall: [74] --1990'sguy (talk) 22:52, 10 September 2017 (EDT)

The DHS waived some more laws to help speed up the prototypes: [75][76][77] --1990'sguy (talk) 16:37, 12 September 2017 (EDT)

Construction of the wall prototypes have begun: [78][79][80] --1990'sguy (talk) 22:51, 26 September 2017 (EDT)

The prototypes are almost complete and testing is beginning: [81][82][83][84] Some illegal immigrants have already been apprehended in the area of the prototypes.[85] --1990'sguy (talk) 18:55, 19 October 2017 (EDT)

Overflow articles that I will not use as sources.[86][87][88] --1990'sguy (talk) 23:05, 29 October 2017 (EDT)

"Redefining the wall"

This article is interesting (and unfortunate), as it shows what appears to be the Trump Administration's softening stance on what the border wall will be like. --1990'sguy (talk) 21:04, 28 September 2017 (EDT)

Denying visas

The ACLU claims that the Trump Administration has started denying visas from the annual visa lottery for people from countries such as Iran and Yemen.[89] This appears to be connected to the travel ban. --1990'sguy (talk) 00:22, 9 August 2017 (EDT)

Other visa issues

Trump stated that he ordered the DHS to tighten visa vetting due to the terrorist attack in NYC, although he did not say what exactly he told them to do (since this was a vague order with no tangible documents, I will not add this to the article, unless I find something more).[90] Trump is also campaigning hard against the diversity visa program and for a merit-based immigration system, and hopefully he succeeds.[91][92][93] --1990'sguy (talk) 18:40, 1 November 2017 (EDT)

Amnesty

It is being reported that more liberal Trump Administration members are pushing for legalization of "Dreamers" (DACA) if Congress will also accept a border wall, reduced legal immigration, and E-verify implementation, among other changes.[94][95][96] From the little that I read, this seems like a fair tradeoff on paper, but other conservatives disagree, and liberals probably would not agree to accept all the conservative changes. --1990'sguy (talk) 09:19, 23 August 2017 (EDT)

Sure enough, Democrats rejected the potential deal: [97] --1990'sguy (talk) 18:14, 23 August 2017 (EDT)

Sanctions on countries refusing to accept deported aliens

I added and then removed this info: In August 2017, the Trump Administration implemented visa sanctions against four countries that continued to refuse to take back its citizens that the U.S. tried to deport. I did so because is appears these sanctions have not gone into effect yet -- the Administration is taking steps to make it reality, but it is not reality yet: [98][99][100][101]

I will re-add this info once it becomes reality. --1990'sguy (talk) 23:51, 23 August 2017 (EDT)

Something I will add (if I remember): visa sanctions were enacted against Eritria and Guinea. Sanctions against two other countries might be announced very shortly. --1990'sguy (talk) 22:16, 12 September 2017 (EDT)

DACA

I removed info I added in the "failures" section regarding DACA, as AG Jeff Sessions announced President Trump would undo DACA in six months.[102][103][104][105][106] The DHS began phasing the program out today,[107][108] and it ended a program that allowed illegals to receive green cards.[109] This is all good news, but I probably won't add it, at least most of this info, until it is confirmed that the program actually ends. --1990'sguy (talk) 20:24, 5 September 2017 (EDT)

There is some not-so-good news: Trump said he would "revisit" the issue if Congress does not essentially legalize the DACA program: [110][111][112][113][114] This article is also interesting: [115] This is a unique opportunity to possibly advance conservative immigration reforms along with legalizing DACA, but there is also a big chance that Congress will instead pass amnesty. --1990'sguy (talk) 23:45, 5 September 2017 (EDT)

More comments that don't sound too good: [116][117][118] On the bright side, this DHS memo seems to take a harder stance on repealing DACA. --1990'sguy (talk) 22:59, 6 September 2017 (EDT)

The DHS agreed to temporarily readmit a DACA recipient to the U.S. who alledged he was "unlawfully deported": [119] --1990'sguy (talk) 17:37, 9 September 2017 (EDT)

The DHS announced the details to its plan to phase out DACA: [120] --1990'sguy (talk) 18:39, 20 September 2017 (EDT)

Here's a good thing (but not as good as simply repealing DACA): the rate at which the DHS denied DACA applications doubled even before Trump chose to repeal the program: [121] --1990'sguy (talk) 10:47, 22 September 2017 (EDT)

On the other hand, the Trump Administration still approved over 100,000 DACA applications between April and June 2017.[122] --1990'sguy (talk) 22:17, 22 September 2017 (EDT)

The number of DACA recipients who renewed their permits by the October 5 deadline to do so declined by 21%.[123] --1990'sguy (talk) 22:33, 7 October 2017 (EDT)

Interesting: according to this article, the number delined by about 14%.[124] --1990'sguy (talk) 22:55, 20 October 2017 (EDT)

The DHS stated that it will not target DACA recipients for deportation.[125] --1990'sguy (talk) 17:53, 23 October 2017 (EDT)

The White House stated that it supports full citizenship for "dreamers," something which contradicts what Trump himself recently stated.[126][127] Hopefully, the DACA bill won't give full citizenship. --1990'sguy (talk) 18:52, 3 October 2017 (EDT)

And they just took that statement back: [128] --1990'sguy (talk) 10:46, 4 October 2017 (EDT)

Trump's requirements for a DACA deal

This seems good: Trump's requested list of policy items for Congress to pass along with legalizing DACA are very good, very conservative: [129][130][131][132] --1990'sguy (talk) 23:23, 8 October 2017 (EDT)

Here are more sources. These seem like good requirements for a DACA deal, and it may be a good idea to add this to the article: [133][134][135][136][137] --1990'sguy (talk) 10:52, 9 October 2017 (EDT)

Some of the immigration enforcement positions that Trump wants for a DACA deal are things that were unexpected, according to the Washington Examiner, meaning that Trump is going over and beyond, which is good: [138] --1990'sguy (talk) 09:09, 10 October 2017 (EDT)

Pro-Trump appointments blocked

John Kelly's deputy, Kirstjen Nielsen, reportedly blocked a lot of pro-Trump appointments at the DHS: [139] Now that she's in the White House, hopefully, the department will be more friendly towards conservative, pro-Trump nominees. --1990'sguy (talk) 00:22, 9 September 2017 (EDT)

Kirstjen Nielsen

And now, Kirstjen Nielsen is Trump's choice to lead the DHS.[140][141][142] I'm not very happy to hear this, and hopefully, my fears will be shown to be unsubstantiated. --1990'sguy (talk) 21:38, 12 October 2017 (EDT)

More evidence she is not the right nominee for the position: [143][144][145][146][147] --1990'sguy (talk) 23:05, 20 October 2017 (EDT)

If we create an article on Nielsen, we should definately incorporate all this into it. The fact that she is a liberal RINO, at least on immigration issues, is very underreported. --1990'sguy (talk) 18:59, 7 November 2017 (EST)

Here are more articles, these being about her confirmation hearing in the Senate: [148][149][150][151][152] --1990'sguy (talk) 18:32, 8 November 2017 (EST)

More articles. I will keep adding them here until/unless I or someone else creates an article of her.[153][154][155][156][157][158] --1990'sguy (talk) 18:49, 9 November 2017 (EST)

More negative appointments

Apparently, James D. Nealon, who Kelly appointed to his current position, is advocating against removing "temporary" protections to let immigrants from countries devastated by disasters to stay in the country.[159] --1990'sguy (talk) 23:12, 5 November 2017 (EST)

Good appointments

Trump chose Thomas Homan to be the permanent ICE Director: [160][161][162][163][164][165] While Homan is an Obama holdover (and some conservatives are unhappy with him[166]), he appears to have taken a strong position on immigration enforcement. --1990'sguy (talk) 16:30, 14 November 2017 (EST)

Border apprehensions

Border apprehensions increased in August 2017: [167][168][169][170][171] This seems to be bad news, but not bad (or good) enough to be added to the article. I'm just noting here for everyone's interest. --1990'sguy (talk) 18:17, 11 September 2017 (EDT)

Border security

The CBP is now testing drones so they can catch illegals: [172] --1990'sguy (talk) 11:43, 26 September 2017 (EDT)

Illegals and other immigrants in the military

The Pantegon is considering ending a program that allows illegals to serve in the military: [173] Also, the military is canceling numerous contracts with immigrants: [174] --1990'sguy (talk) 19:19, 16 September 2017 (EDT)

Ending "temporary status"

The DHS will end "temporary residency" for refugees from Sudan after 21 years of having that status.[175] The status will end next year at the earliest, so I will not add this for now, but it is still good news. --1990'sguy (talk) 18:45, 18 September 2017 (EDT)

Politico has a different perspective: its article says that the DHS is extending the protected status until 2018 at the earliest: [176] Hopefully, the DHS has the guts to eventually finally end these programs. --1990'sguy (talk) 11:20, 19 September 2017 (EDT)

I can't figure it out either--there are many articles saying each thing, many of which were written on 10/18. Here are some more links on the subject. Ending/ended: [177] Extending/extended: [178] [179] [180] (those last two seem to be exact duplicates, probably from the AP). The prevailing claim seems to be that it is being extended, but I can't really tell for sure. --David B ^(TALK) 09:19, 10 October 2017 (EDT)

The Trump Administration may end the Temporary Protected Status program, which allows people to come to the U.S. if there is a disaster in their own countries.[181] --1990'sguy (talk) 11:22, 2 November 2017 (EDT)

This is ridiculous: The DHS chose to end TPS for about 5,000 Nicaraguans but "temporarily" extended it for 86,000 Hondourans.[182][183][184] (VoA's article shows different numbers) Hopefully, Breitbart's interpretation of this as a strategic move to force Democrats to compromise is correct. --1990'sguy (talk) 11:31, 7 November 2017 (EST)

This other Breitbart article considers the move a failure. --1990'sguy (talk) 22:18, 7 November 2017 (EST)

John Kelly reportedly tried to get Acting Secretary Duke to end TPS for the Hondourans. Good for Kelly, but he apparently failed.[185][186] --1990'sguy (talk) 18:48, 9 November 2017 (EST)

Canada prepares for a surge

Canada is preparing for a surge of illegal immigration into the country as the residency permits for Central American people soon expire.[187] This is a good thing for the U.S. (probably not for Canada), because it shows that these people take Trump seriously, and just having Trump in the White House is reducing the level of illegals in the country. --1990'sguy (talk) 10:41, 20 September 2017 (EDT)

Asylum reform

AG Jeff Sessions criticized the U.S. asylum system and called on Congress to reform it.[188][189][190][191][192][193] --1990'sguy (talk) 23:09, 12 October 2017 (EDT)

Here's another interesting article: [194] I'm not sure if this is entirely just proposals, or if there's something more substantial at the moment. --1990'sguy (talk) 23:53, 16 October 2017 (EDT)

Immigration jails: very possible info to add

The DHS is looking for additional jails to keep illegals until they can be deported, and several of the locations are in "sanctuary" cities but will be operated only by ICE, which is a good move.[195][196][197] This is all good news, but this is only in the planning stage, so I don't want to add it yet. --1990'sguy (talk) 23:05, 18 October 2017 (EDT)

Questionable refugee dinner

President Trump will attend a dinner intended to promote a UN refugee agency: [198] Hopefully, nothing bad will come out of this. --18:55, 19 October 2017 (EDT)

Likely failure to add: 2017 work permits

The Trump Administration will have given out 2 million work permits to immigrants, many of them being illegal.[199][200] It might be a good idea to add this to the article. --1990'sguy (talk) 22:54, 24 October 2017 (EDT)

Congressional actions

Paul Ryan might sneak DACA amnesty into the upcoming budget bill: [201] Hopefully, he won't actually do that. --1990'sguy (talk) 10:30, 25 October 2017 (EDT)

Ending tax credits for illegals

The GOP tax reform bill, if passed in its current form, will end illegals from getting $23.1 billion in tax credits in the next decade.[202] --1990'sguy (talk) 22:34, 4 November 2017 (EDT)