While the focus has been on unauthorized immigration as Donald Trump returns to the White House, legal immigration is also in the crosshairs, according to a nonpartisan research foundation.

With so much attention focused on the border, it’s easy to forget that usually over 1 million people legally immigrate to the U.S. each year, said Stuart Anderson, executive director of the think tank National Foundation for American Policy.

People who want to restrict immigration have focused on the legal immigration system because they assume it would be easier to get a handle on, he said during a virtual news briefing hosted by America’s Voice, a nonprofit that advocates immigration reform.

Restrictions

That happened during the first Trump administration, he said. Legal immigration was restricted in several ways, including reducing refugee admissions to historically low levels and banning Muslims from the U.S.

“There were also several policies that they hoped to implement in a wide-ranging way … and a health insurance mandate that was not put into effect for very long because it was blocked in court,” he said.

The foundation estimates that about 770,000 fewer people immigrated legally to the U.S. during the Trump administration compared to the previous four years.

“In fact, there were two executive actions using … presidential authority that actually blocked the entry of almost all categories of immigration and almost all categories of work visa holders,” he said.

University of North Florida economist Madeline Zavodny found that real Gross Domestic Product growth in 2022 as a result of Trump administration policies and COVID was only 1.9%.

“That’s because labor force growth is an important part of economic growth,” he said.

Labor force

Another foundation study found that in the last five years, 88% of U.S. labor force growth has been due to immigrants. If it weren’t for immigrants and their children there would have been no labor force growth in the U.S., he said.

By 2052, it’s likely the only source of labor force growth will be immigration, he said, adding that’s a reflection of the aging U.S. population and lower birth rate.

In the more immediate term, there’ll likely be disappointed Americans who are looking to sponsor immigrant loved ones and disappointed employers and American consumers who won’t be able to get some of the services they want, he said.