The Immigration Balancing Act: Trump’s Early Moves and America’s Future

April 8, 2025

CNSI Blog

President Trump centered his campaign on the promise to dramatically overhaul immigration policies, focusing on enforcement and deportation of illegal immigrants. His victory can be attributed in large part to this single pledge. Three months into his administration, the President has continued to prioritize this agenda in both action and rhetoric. As expected, the first wave of his immigration agenda has relied heavily on “sticks.” While consistent with his campaign promise, enduring immigration reform will require a more even-keeled approach. More importantly, voters will demand it, as polls show a majority of Americans want a balanced approach to immigration.

The president is delivering to his supporters in three key areas. First, the President promised to unwind and reverse the parole program that allowed around a million Central and South Americans to enter and obtain work permits. While it will certainly be jarring to have these promises revoked, the recipients of this very generous program knew it could be temporary, and the parole program certainly pushed the legal envelope beyond its normal application.

Second, the President promised to empower Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, enabling ICE to commence deportation operations against those with criminal convictions and final deportation orders. Although the administration is discovering that it is challenging to dramatically ramp up ICE’s enforcement numbers, the public does expect ICE to remove those without legal status when they are encountered. Whether a new acting head of ICE can fulfill this promise remains to be seen.

Lastly, the President is correctly leveraging trade sanctions and foreign aid to insist that other countries accept their deported citizens. This tool has been underutilized by presidents of both parties, but it will leverage America’s broader engagement with the world to return credibility to America’s immigration enforcement.

The President has implemented a set of firm measures to advance his immigration agenda. However, lasting reform will require a balanced approach that avoids an overemphasis on punitive measures, which could alienate swing voters and hurt the U.S. economy.

The President has issued a range of executive orders initiating agency reviews and reports that may pave the way for future actions. The uncertainty of the outcome of these reviews can be both economically and politically destabilizing. One of the most significant is a request to assess other countries’ cooperation with America’s vetting of immigrants. Eight years ago, a poorly conceived travel ban, lacking agency input, was branded the ‘Muslim’ ban and elicited negative reactions, impacting the U.S. travel industry and undermining America’s foreign policy efforts. What transpires at the end of this 60-day review will be critical for the travel industry and America’s global image.

Most unsettling was the misguided attempt to reinterpret the 14th Amendment to deny birthright citizenship. While concerns about the security of the border are valid, America’s identity as a nation of immigrants depends on the tradition of granting citizenship to those born on U.S. soil, regardless of parental lineage.

Most Americans desire a balanced immigration system that allows vetted workers to enter the country to fill unoccupied jobs, supports engineers and developers in building new businesses, and attracts tourists for major events like the 2026 World Cup and 2028 and 2034 Olympics in the U.S.

The hope is that an early show of enforcement by the administration will allow the President to declare that he has resolved the “Biden-Harris” border crisis, evidenced by the massive decline in attempted entries at the southern border. A summer press conference where the President announces that the border is secure, promises to oversee the greatest World Cup and Olympics in history, and invites essential foreign workers to immigrate to a thriving America should become a reality.