Trump administration claims 3 million migrants left US amid sweeping immigration crackdown

Washington: The White House has said that more than three million migrants have left the United States since President Donald Trump began his second term, presenting the figure as evidence of the impact of its tough immigration policies.

The claim was made in a White House statement titled “How President Trump Ended the Border Invasion and Restored American Sovereignty”, which outlined a range of measures taken against unauthorised immigration, deportations, asylum claims and legal visa categories.

According to the administration, the number of immigrants living in the US without legal status has fallen by at least 2.3 million. It described the decline as the largest sustained reduction in the country’s modern history.

The government said close to 1.2 million people were deported or removed during the period, while immigration authorities made approximately 1.3 million arrests. These figures were released by the administration itself and have not been verified through an independent audit.

The White House said illegal crossings along the southern border had dropped by 95 per cent compared with the period under former president Joe Biden. It added that immigration encounters across the country fell to below 380,000 in fiscal year 2026, against nearly 2.7 million a year under the previous administration.

The administration also claimed that no migrants held by the Border Patrol were released into the United States during the fiscal year, calling it a first-of-its-kind enforcement result.

The statement said the backlog of cases in US immigration courts had come down from over 4.18 million to under 3.09 million. The administration attributed this to revised court procedures, stricter enforcement and changes in the way pending cases were handled.

It cautioned, however, that a lower backlog does not automatically mean that all cases were decided after a full hearing on their merits.

Asylum approvals also fell sharply, according to the White House. It said the approval rate dropped to about seven per cent, from more than 50 per cent during the Biden administration, and linked the change to stricter eligibility screening and enforcement.

The administration said it had cancelled more than 300,000 visas since Trump’s return to office. These included thousands of student visas and visas connected to suspected misuse of immigration programmes.

The White House also highlighted new curbs on H-1B work visas, a category used extensively by Indian technology professionals. It said a $100,000 fee has been imposed on certain H-1B petitions and that the earlier random selection process has been replaced with a system designed to prioritise highly skilled and higher-paid workers.

According to the administration, H-1B registrations for fiscal year 2027 fell by 38 per cent under the revised rules.

It further said automatic extensions of certain work authorisation documents had been ended, while foreign students and exchange visitors now face tougher verification requirements. Applicants are required to provide more information about their education, finances and immigration history.

The administration also said it had restricted immigrants’ access to certain federal benefits, including some healthcare schemes, business loans and government-backed home loans.

It added that detention capacity had been expanded, deportation flights increased and cooperation with state and local authorities strengthened. The White House claimed that these measures had also helped reduce drug trafficking and deaths connected to illegal border crossings.

US immigration law provides distinct pathways for employment, family reunification, education, asylum and permanent residence.

(Inputs from IANS)