Trump’s deputies have halved legal immigrant inflows in 2026 while nearly stopping illegal crossings, a dual push Vice President JD Vance defends as essential for social cohesion and community.

The State Department issued just 26,000 immigrant visas in February, the green cards that grant legal permanent resident status. That figure sits against an average of 52,000 a month in the years before President Donald Trump returned to office.

Breitbart News reported the sharp drop, citing New York Times figures that show the administration has cut the inflow of legalized migrants roughly in half this year while blocking nearly all illegal migration. The White House has not released fuller migration data past the spring of 2026.

Regulations rolled out by Trump’s deputies did the work without new legislation from a logjammed Congress. Those rules made immigration all but impossible from 91 countries and reduced the number of immigrant visas available in another 61.

Africa and the Middle East took the heaviest hit. Immigration from Muslim-majority countries plunged by more than 90 percent.

Deportations shrink the illegal population by millions

Department of Homeland Security deportations since January 2025 have reduced the foreign population by roughly 3 million illegal immigrants. About 14 million illegal immigrants remain in the country alongside a resident population of roughly 28 million legal immigrants and 290 million Americans.

The scale marks a hard reverse from the prior administration. In 2024, President Joe Biden’s staff granted permanent residence cards to a record 1.35 million legalized migrants. The 1990 immigration law had long set a normal annual award of roughly one million green cards, about one legalized immigrant for every four American births.

Progressives and business groups are already filing lawsuits aimed at reviving higher legal migration. That pattern of resistance tracks other fights in which Republicans reminded Democrats who set enforcement precedents when Trump-era actions drew partisan fury.

Federal officials are also tightening oversight of visa programs that keep roughly 2 to 2.5 million foreign contract workers in U.S. jobs. Most of those contractors are imported by Fortune 500 firms for positions that would otherwise go to American graduates. Tighter enforcement has not yet reduced that contract-worker population.

Vance makes the case for cohesion over volume

Vice President JD Vance has been outspoken about cutting both illegal and legal migration. He has repeatedly argued that mass migration lets investors cut salaries and grow profits while skimping on high-tech productivity and training, and that heavy inflows corrode civic culture.

On a recent Sunday, Vance told CBS what the policy is meant to protect.

Vance said:

"My goal here is to make it so that we can have a country with some baseline of social cohesion and sense of community. Because what happens when too many people come to the United States, even if they’re very good people...., it changes the country in very profound ways."

He continued:

"I have neighbors, I have friends of mine, who literally don’t know a single person in their neighborhood who speaks the language they do. Now, that’s not a criticism of anybody, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable for an American citizen to want to share their community with people they have something in common with, and I think our immigration system has to build that."

That message sits alongside other signs of a disciplined inner circle. Trump has moved quickly to shut down speculation about staff turmoil, including when he shut down talk of ousting Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

Open-borders advocates call the cuts “lawless”

David Bier, whose work is funded through Cato, has attacked the slowdown. Bier framed the numbers as proof Trump cut legal channels even harder than illegal ones.

Bier said:

"Illegal entries are down under Trump, but he’s cut legal immigration even more than illegal immigration."

He added:

"President Trump has cut every type of legal immigration. He has reduced immigrant visas by 50%, mainly for spouses, minor children, and parents of US citizens and green card holders but also employment-based immigrants and others. Again, no new laws, just a lawless presidency."

Bier’s complaint centers on the fact that deputies used existing regulatory authority rather than waiting for Congress. Supporters of the policy see the opposite: an administration finally using tools already on the books after years of record inflows and strained communities.

Legal pushback is expected. Courts have already become a regular venue for challenges to Trump initiatives, a dynamic visible when the Supreme Court again backed Trump in a campaign ad rates fight.

Business pressure meets a different wage logic

Business-funded advocates want the old pipeline restored. The administration’s view, voiced by Vance, is that large-scale low-skill and mid-skill inflows suppress pay and let firms avoid investing in American workers and productivity.

The 50 percent cut in immigrant visas reaches family categories and employment-based slots alike. Spouses, minor children, and parents of U.S. citizens and green-card holders account for much of the reduction, alongside employment-based immigrants and others.

That choice rejects the 1990s-era model that treated high permanent inflows as permanent economic strategy. It also rejects the 2024 peak under Biden, when green-card grants hit 1.35 million in a single year.

Political opponents have every incentive to litigate and to litigate loudly. Trump has shown he will answer that pressure directly, including when he said he could still target Clintons and Obama over their records.

Media figures continue to cycle between attack and invitation. One recent turn came when Behar invited Trump back to The View after earlier remarks about his health.

Numbers the public can measure

February’s 26,000 immigrant visas against the old 52,000 monthly average is a clean before-and-after. The 91-country near-ban and the 61-country reduction are concrete. The more than 90 percent drop from Muslim-majority countries is concrete. The roughly 3 million decline in the illegal population since January 2025 is concrete.

So is the unfinished business. Roughly 14 million illegal immigrants remain. Contract-worker programs still hold more than 2 million foreign workers in place. Lawsuits from progressive and business plaintiffs seek to force the numbers back up.

Trump’s deputies have already shown they will use regulation when Congress will not act. Vance has stated the goal in plain language: a country that still shares a baseline of language, community, and common life.

Americans who want secure borders, higher wages, and neighborhoods that still feel like home now have a policy that matches those priorities instead of the old volume-first model.