A new border regime

Zhanna and Sergey Kosiak barely made it across the U.S.-Mexico border. Less than two months after the family used a virtual system to request their asylum appointment at the Mexicali port of entry, President Donald Trump shut it down. The couple, who fled government persecution in Russia with their two children, spent nine months in Tijuana, Mexico, waiting for an appointment. Now, they’re staying in the small brick home of a Mexican American pastor on the outskirts of Winston-Salem, N.C., while they get on their feet and prepare for their first asylum hearing in immigration court.

Back in Tijuana, another Russian family, who attended the Kosiaks’ now-shuttered church in Russia, are still waiting. “We call each other and encourage each other and share any news that we have,” Sergey said via Google Translate. “But everything is in the hands of the Lord.”

During the presidential campaign, voters consistently listed immigration as a top issue of concern. At rally after rally, Trump promised to slam the border shut and deport immigrants living in the United States illegally. So, it wasn’t surprising when the president put his pen behind his promises on his first day in office, signing eight immigration-related orders. Together they’re aimed at stanching the flow of migrants while the administration revamps policies that collectively facilitated the entry of an estimated 8 million people during President Joe Biden’s four years in office.

Critics of Trump’s immigration reset say the barrage of executive orders and memos is preventing asylum-seekers and refugees fleeing perilous situations from accessing legally guaranteed protections. And they worry the lack of clarity about who could be swept up in the administration’s mass deportation scheme is fueling panic in immigrant communities. But President Trump, and many of the supporters who propelled him to the White House, argue the ­immigration lockdown is a hard reset integral to regaining control of the U.S.-Mexico border before the government reopens traditional pathways.

In early 2024, illegal crossings began to fall thanks to increased Mexican enforcement at the border and a Biden-era rule that barred most immigrants from asking for asylum between ports of entry. Still, Biden presided over the United States’ largest-ever immigration surge, and roughly 60% of immigrants who arrived during his tenure did so illegally, according to government data.

Among his first-day orders, Trump declared a national emergency at the border and directed military personnel to assist the Department of Homeland Security in achieving “full operational control” of the U.S. southern boundary. Trump argued a provision of U.S. immigration law allows him to turn back immigrants detrimental to the country’s interests, including asylum-­seekers—immigrants asking for protection from targeted persecution based on their race, nationality, religion, social status, or political affiliation.

Even supporters of the asylum system admit it’s frequently abused.

“A lot of people seeking asylum, they want to come for a job, they want a better life or economic opportunity,” said Juvenal González, the pastor hosting the Kosiak family in North Carolina. González also hosts asylum-seekers in a home he owns in Tijuana. “Everybody wants to have a better life. So I think that a lot of people abuse the program. The government is right to say, ‘Hey, we need to be careful.’”

Using a mobile app known as CBP One, the Biden administration permitted asylum-seekers to book appointments at ports of entry to begin the asylum process. If they passed an initial screening, Customs and Border Protection officers paroled them into the country to await their first asylum hearing. Critics of the mobile app documented instances of fraud and abuse. For instance, between Jan. 12 and Aug. 18, 2023, 358 mostly unrelated noncitizens reported the same four-bedroom, single-family home as their intended residence, according to an August 2024 audit. González noted that these kinds of abuses hinder the program for asylum-seekers who desperately need protection: “There’s people that really can’t go home that are being persecuted.”

President Trump also reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols, a policy better known as “Remain in Mexico,” that requires asylum-seekers to wait across the border until they can present their case before an immigration judge.

But now, it’s unclear whether immigrants have any way to make their case. Technically, U.S. immigration law allows immigrants to request asylum once they step onto American soil, whether or not they cross at a port of entry. The ACLU has already filed suit, arguing Trump’s asylum lockdown violates the U.S. responsibility to protect those fleeing persecution.

Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, who specializes in U.S.-Mexico relations at George Mason University, believes a judge likely will require the U.S. gov­ernment to provide a pathway. In the meantime, she said Mexican immigration authorities are making it difficult for immigrants to access U.S. ports of entry.

An asylum-seeker from Venezuela gets emotional after finding out her appointment on the CBP One app was canceled, as she and her family wait at the border crossing in Tijuana on Jan. 20. Associated Press / Photo by Gregory Bull

Along with shutting down appointments on the CBP One app, Trump signed an order excluding the children of certain immigrants from birthright citizenship, though three federal judges have temporarily blocked the change. With another stroke of his pen, the president paused the refugee resettlement program, and the administration followed that suspension with a funding cut for resettlement agencies working with refugees who have already arrived. It’s unclear when or if the resettlement program will resume.

It’s also unclear what will happen to the nearly 1.5 million former recipients of a temporary parole program that provided work authorization to Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians with U.S.-based sponsors. Trump ended the program on his first day in office, and in early February, DHS announced it will not renew Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands more Venezuelans who must leave the country by April.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested more than 8,000 immigrants during Trump’s first two weeks in office—an average of about 570 per day. John Torres, a former acting director of ICE, said the agency is currently “ramping back up operations” to pre-2012 levels. “A lot of that infrastructure has been dismantled especially in the last four years,” he said. During the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, ICE averaged 311 daily arrests.

A policy change allowing agents to apprehend immigrants in sensitive locations such as churches and schools inspired panicked headlines and hand-­wringing among ministries serving immigrant communities. But Torres believes those fears may be overblown.

“It’s not as if an agent is just going to go wandering the halls of a church or school or hospital asking people their status,” he said, noting that ICE operations are targeted and carefully executed. An estimated 10-15 million people reside in the country illegally. ICE agents typically prioritize violent criminals, sexual predators, and felons.

Samuel Rodriguez, pastor and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said he has minimal concern about ICE disrupting church services or interrogating his church members.

“There is no safe haven for criminal elements,” he said. “What took place in the past four years is egregious malfeasance. It’s wrong. It’s morally wrong. It’s legally wrong.”