Due to the actions of President Trump, 2026 has been a year of ICE raids, incarceration of immigrants and mass deportations.
What is less well known are the efforts of the Executive Branch of the Government to curtail legal immigration to the United States without the necessity of having Congress pass any laws to do so.
Below are a number of examples of President Trump’s efforts to reduce legal immigration to the US:
- Proposed $70,000 Fee for OPT
- Freeze on Diversity Lottery Green Cards
- Denaturalization of US Citizens
- Travel Bans Under the Second Trump Administration
- Asylum Denials in Immigration Court Have Risen to Over 90%
- Proposed $103,265 Filing Fee for H-1B Visas
- New Test and Good Moral Character Rule for Naturalization
- Refugee Admissions Dramatically Decreased
- Making It More Difficult to Adjust Status in the US
- The Potential Effects of the New Public Charge Rule
Below we provide information and links regarding these priorities of the Trump administration in their assault on legal immigration:
Proposed $70,000 Fee for OPT
On October 8, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed regulation in the Federal Register which would require U.S. universities to pay a $70,000 fee to recommend an F-1 student for an initial period of Optional Practical Training (OPT) and a $30,000 fee for each subsequent OPT recommendation. Universities would be permitted to recoup the costs of the fee from the student or employer.
A 30-day public comment window is open through November 9, 2026, before it can be finalized. Higher education and business groups have warned the fees would effectively dismantle the OPT program and are expected to challenge the rule legally.
Zuzana C. Wootson, the Deputy Director of Federal Policy of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education warns that
“This proposal is yet another attempt to dismantle the international talent pipeline that is crucial to U.S. global competitiveness. By imposing prohibitive and arbitrary fees on access to practical training, the administration would put OPT out of reach for many students and institutions, causing tremendous harm to campuses, employers, and communities across the country.
OPT allows international students to apply their education through practical experience directly related to their field of study. Making it unaffordable would drive prospective students toward competitor countries—including Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany—that offer opportunities to work after graduation.
The consequences would extend well beyond international students. Declining international enrollment would strain institutional budgets, increase tuition pressure on American students, and diminish the educational experience for everyone.
Employers would lose access to graduates who help meet workforce needs in STEM, healthcare, and research. Communities would lose spending and jobs, while reduced access to talent would slow innovation and economic growth nationwide.
This rule would undermine America’s success. DHS should withdraw the proposal and protect this longstanding program.”
Freeze on Diversity Lottery Green Cards
The diversity visa lottery program, established in 1990, grants 55,000 green cards annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The majority of these persons are from Africa and Europe.
This program was paused in December 2025 when it was revealed that the suspect in the Brown University shooting had immigrated to the US in 2017 under the diversity visa lottery program.
It seems totally irrational to suspend a program which benefits 55,000 persons annually based on the actions of a single individual.
For more information, please see https://www.shusterman.com/president-trump-on-immigration/
Denaturalization of US Citizens
In December 2025, the USCIS asked its field offices to “supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month.”
This is a huge increase from the number of denaturalization cases which stood at approximately 11 per year from 1990 to 2007.
When I served as an INS Naturalization Attorney in the 1970s, most denaturalization cases involved Nazi war criminals.
For more information, please see https://www.shusterman.com/denaturalization/
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Travel Bans Under the Second Trump Administration
President Trump issued Proclamation 10998 “Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States,” which went into effect on January 1, 2026 which fully or partially suspended entry and visa issuance for nationals of 39 countries.
In November 2025, USCIS put in place a blanket pause on the adjudication of all immigration benefits for nationals subject to the June 2025 travel ban. This suspension applies to all benefits including visa petitions, green card applications and even citizenship oath ceremonies.
Then, in December 2025, the travel ban was extended to include nationals of 20 additional countries starting on January 1, 2026.
The administration separately instituted an indefinite public-charge freeze on 75 countries in January 2026 – which a Federal Court struck down in August 2026 – alongside a brief worldwide pause on immigrant visa appointments for consular processing.
For more information, please see https://www.shusterman.com/president-trump-on-immigration/
Asylum Denials in Immigration Court Have Risen to Over 90%
The law states that a person qualifies for asylum if he can show that he has a “well-founded fear of persecution” in his country based on (1) political opinion, (2) religion, (3) race, (4) nationality or (5) membership in a particular group.
A person in removal proceedings who meets any of these criteria can file an application before an Immigration Judge.
As recently as 2023, Immigration Judges granted over 50% of all asylum cases that came before them. However, in the first 8 months of 2026, the denial rate for asylum case rose to 94%! How was this possible?
As of August 31, 2026, President Trump had hired 192 new Judges plus an additional 53 temporary Judges had Immigration Judges ranks. In total, 743 Judges were deciding asylum cases during fiscal year 2026. Of these, only 322 or 43% had been serving before President Trump assumed office.
For more information, please see https://www.shusterman.com/asylum-us/#4
Proposed $103,265 Fee for Cap-Subject H-1B Visas
On August 24, 2026, DHS proposed an additional fee in which employers will need to pay $103,365 for professional employees who they will be sponsoring for H-1B cap-subject visa.
DHS estimates that the proposed fee would generate approximately $8.8 billion annually, based on a projected annual volume of 85,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions.
Federal Courts have blocked/struck down earlier iterations or executive orders attempting a $100,000 fee. The new DHS proposed rule completed its public comment period on September 24, 2026, and awaits final implementation steps.
End of Constitutional Right to Birthright Citizenship?
The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States…”
The US Supreme Court in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) held that the 14th Amendment grants US citizenship to all persons born in the US without regard to race or nationality.
However, on January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14160 which seeks to redefine birthright citizenship – excluding many children born in the US unless at least one parent is a US citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
On June 30, 2026, U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Executive Order was unconstitutional holding that under the 14th Amendment, children born in the US to parents unlawfully or temporarily present in the US are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the US and are, therefore, US citizens at birth.
For more information, please see https://www.shusterman.com/supreme-court-immigration/
New Test and Good Moral Character Rule for Naturalization
The 2025 Naturalization Civics Test was recently required for persons who filed their naturalization applications after October 20, 2025.
It features 128 potential questions, up from 100, and requires 12 correct answers out of 20 rather than 6 out of 10. It focuses more on American history and government than did the previous test and will be much more difficult to pass.
A link to the 128 questions is available online at https://www.shusterman.com/naturalization/#1
On August 15, 2025, USCIS issued a memorandum which created a new approach to evaluating whether a person applying for naturalization is able to meet the “good moral character” criteria.
The memo states that “Going forward, USCIS officers must account for an alien’s positive attributes and not simply the absence of misconduct. In evaluating whether or not an alien has met the requirement of establishing GMC the Officer must take a holistic approach in evaluating whether or not an alien seeking naturalization has affirmatively established that he or she has met their burden of establishing that they are worthy of assuming the rights and responsibilities of United States Citizenship.”
We link to this memo from https://www.shusterman.com/naturalization/
Refugee Admissions Dramatically Decreased
The fiscal year 2026 cap of 7,500 is the lowest in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) history, down from 125,000 under the previous administration.
The limited slots are mainly allocated to Afrikaners from South Africa, with other groups from major crises areas like Sudan, the Congo and the Ukraine largely excluded.
Making It More Difficult to Adjust Status in the US
On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199 announcing a change in its approach to green card processing for individuals who apply for permanent residency from within the United States through the process known as adjustment of status.
USCIS now treats consular processing—where applicants travel abroad to complete their green card interviews at a U.S. embassy or consulate—as the default expectation. The Memorandum states that adjustment of status within the United States should be reserved only for “extraordinary circumstances.”
USCIS officers will now evaluate adjustment of status applications using a totality of the circumstances approach. This means officers may give greater weight to negative factors in an applicant’s record and may require applicants to submit additional evidence of positive factors. Ultimately, officers will determine on a case-by-case basis whether an applicant warrants a “favorable exercise of discretion.”
The Potential Effects of the New Public Charge Rule
The updated USCIS public-charge guidance took effect on September 18, 2026, giving immigration officers broader discretion to deny green cards or visa extensions if an applicant is deemed likely to depend on government assistance. Immigration officers can now factor in an applicant’s use of means-tested public benefits such as Medicaid, food assistance (SNAP), and housing subsidies. They can assess an applicant’s overall circumstances, including age, health, education, skills, financial status, and household size.
Fear and confusion have led millions of eligible immigrants and mixed-status families—including U.S.-citizen children—to disenroll from or avoid vital public programs like Medi-Cal and CalFresh out of concern it could hurt their immigration status.
The test does not apply to U.S. citizens, refugees, asylees, permanent residents (green card holders in most cases), T or U visa holders, or VAWA self-petitioners.
Several states, cities and organizations have filed lawsuits to challenge the rule meaning parts of it could face temporary blocks or injunctions.
