Blog
SPECIAL REPORT · MAY 2026
A comprehensive assessment of every executive order, law, and enforcement shift since January 20, 2025 — what took effect, what courts blocked, and how millions of lives have been reshaped.
From the moment Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, 2025, his administration moved at an unprecedented pace to overhaul U.S. immigration. Through executive orders, administrative directives, and sweeping legislation, it has transformed who can enter, stay, work, or seek safety in America — affecting everyone from undocumented workers to green card holders, asylum seekers to international students.
On Inauguration Day, Trump signed six immigration-related executive orders in a single stroke — the clearest possible signal that the campaign pledges were about to become policy at maximum speed.
The most consequential legislative achievement of Trump's second term is the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025. Passed through the reconciliation process with a bare 51–50 Senate majority, it injected roughly $170 billion into immigration enforcement and fundamentally restructured who can access humanitarian protection.
| APPLICATION TYPE | OLD FEE | NEW FEE |
|---|---|---|
| Asylum application (one-time) | $100 (no waiver) | |
| Annual asylum pending fee | +$100 every year | |
| TPS registration | $500 (no waiver) | |
| Work permit (TPS/parole/asylum) | $550 initial / $275 renewal | |
| Immigration court appeal / motion | $900 | |
| Humanitarian parole entry | $1,000 | |
| Unlawful border crossing penalty | +$5,000 (including asylum seekers) | |
| Special Immigrant Juvenile Status | $250 (including children) |
All fees are indexed to inflation and will rise automatically. The complete absence of fee waivers effectively closes these pathways for low-income immigrants.
Along the southern border, new policies have made seeking asylum dramatically harder:
The Supreme Court sided with the administration on several border enforcement measures throughout 2025, while the birthright citizenship case remains unresolved.
The most dramatic transformation of 2025 happened not at the border, but deep inside American communities.
A defining and alarming feature of 2025 enforcement was the expansion of ICE operations into immigration courthouses, worksite raids, and even scheduled check-in appointments. Showing up to exercise your legal rights became a reason to fear arrest — a chilling effect advocates say is driving immigrants away from the legal system entirely.
More than 100 new detention facilities came online during 2025, including, for the first time, hastily-erected tent camps in desert conditions — which courts have since described as inhumane and overcrowded. State cooperation proved decisive: over half of ICE's interior arrests occurred in jails in cooperating states such as Texas and Florida.
The crackdown extends well beyond undocumented immigrants to those who entered through legal channels:
Federal courts have served as a significant — if incomplete — check on the administration's most expansive claims. The Supreme Court, however, sided with the administration on multiple key measures.
Surveillance has emerged as another front: pressure on the IRS to share immigrant taxpayer data with ICE has led some undocumented immigrants to stop filing tax returns. In documented cases, living immigrants have been declared "bureaucratically dead" in Social Security records — a tactic described by legal experts as weaponized administrative power.
State and local governments have become a fault line in the enforcement landscape. Texas and Florida actively cooperated with federal agencies; New York, California, and other "sanctuary" jurisdictions resisted. More than half of ICE's interior arrests in Trump's first year came from jails in cooperative states — evidence that local political choices directly determine enforcement outcomes.
Trump's second term represents the most sweeping transformation of U.S. immigration law and practice since 1986. The administration remains well short of its stated goal of deporting one million people per year — optimistic projections put the actual interior figure at around 300,000 for 2025 — but the rules, culture, and institutions governing immigration have been fundamentally altered.
Legal battles continue. The Supreme Court upheld several key measures while the birthright citizenship case, the most constitutionally momentous challenge, is still unresolved. The $170 billion injected into enforcement through the OBBBA will compound the administration's operational capacity well into the next decade.
For immigrants themselves, this landscape is defined by deep uncertainty, fear, and escalating financial burden. People who felt secure just two years ago — TPS holders, DACA recipients, long-established undocumented residents — are now questioning their status, their healthcare, and their futures.
The story is still unfolding. Court decisions, potential new executive actions, and the phased implementation of OBBBA provisions guarantee that the landscape will keep changing. What is already clear is that for millions of people in the United States, the America they knew on January 19, 2025, is not the one they live in today.
SPECIAL REPORT · MAY 2026
A comprehensive assessment of every executive order, law, and enforcement shift since January 20, 2025 — what took effect, what courts blocked, and how millions of lives have been reshaped.
From the moment Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, 2025, his administration moved at an unprecedented pace to overhaul U.S. immigration. Through executive orders, administrative directives, and sweeping legislation, it has transformed who can enter, stay, work, or seek safety in America — affecting everyone from undocumented workers to green card holders, asylum seekers to international students.
On Inauguration Day, Trump signed six immigration-related executive orders in a single stroke — the clearest possible signal that the campaign pledges were about to become policy at maximum speed.
The most consequential legislative achievement of Trump's second term is the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025. Passed through the reconciliation process with a bare 51–50 Senate majority, it injected roughly $170 billion into immigration enforcement and fundamentally restructured who can access humanitarian protection.
| APPLICATION TYPE | OLD FEE | NEW FEE |
|---|---|---|
| Asylum application (one-time) | $100 (no waiver) | |
| Annual asylum pending fee | +$100 every year | |
| TPS registration | $500 (no waiver) | |
| Work permit (TPS/parole/asylum) | $550 initial / $275 renewal | |
| Immigration court appeal / motion | $900 | |
| Humanitarian parole entry | $1,000 | |
| Unlawful border crossing penalty | +$5,000 (including asylum seekers) | |
| Special Immigrant Juvenile Status | $250 (including children) |
All fees are indexed to inflation and will rise automatically. The complete absence of fee waivers effectively closes these pathways for low-income immigrants.
Along the southern border, new policies have made seeking asylum dramatically harder:
The Supreme Court sided with the administration on several border enforcement measures throughout 2025, while the birthright citizenship case remains unresolved.
The most dramatic transformation of 2025 happened not at the border, but deep inside American communities.
A defining and alarming feature of 2025 enforcement was the expansion of ICE operations into immigration courthouses, worksite raids, and even scheduled check-in appointments. Showing up to exercise your legal rights became a reason to fear arrest — a chilling effect advocates say is driving immigrants away from the legal system entirely.
More than 100 new detention facilities came online during 2025, including, for the first time, hastily-erected tent camps in desert conditions — which courts have since described as inhumane and overcrowded. State cooperation proved decisive: over half of ICE's interior arrests occurred in jails in cooperating states such as Texas and Florida.
The crackdown extends well beyond undocumented immigrants to those who entered through legal channels:
Federal courts have served as a significant — if incomplete — check on the administration's most expansive claims. The Supreme Court, however, sided with the administration on multiple key measures.
Surveillance has emerged as another front: pressure on the IRS to share immigrant taxpayer data with ICE has led some undocumented immigrants to stop filing tax returns. In documented cases, living immigrants have been declared "bureaucratically dead" in Social Security records — a tactic described by legal experts as weaponized administrative power.
State and local governments have become a fault line in the enforcement landscape. Texas and Florida actively cooperated with federal agencies; New York, California, and other "sanctuary" jurisdictions resisted. More than half of ICE's interior arrests in Trump's first year came from jails in cooperative states — evidence that local political choices directly determine enforcement outcomes.
Trump's second term represents the most sweeping transformation of U.S. immigration law and practice since 1986. The administration remains well short of its stated goal of deporting one million people per year — optimistic projections put the actual interior figure at around 300,000 for 2025 — but the rules, culture, and institutions governing immigration have been fundamentally altered.
Legal battles continue. The Supreme Court upheld several key measures while the birthright citizenship case, the most constitutionally momentous challenge, is still unresolved. The $170 billion injected into enforcement through the OBBBA will compound the administration's operational capacity well into the next decade.
For immigrants themselves, this landscape is defined by deep uncertainty, fear, and escalating financial burden. People who felt secure just two years ago — TPS holders, DACA recipients, long-established undocumented residents — are now questioning their status, their healthcare, and their futures.
The story is still unfolding. Court decisions, potential new executive actions, and the phased implementation of OBBBA provisions guarantee that the landscape will keep changing. What is already clear is that for millions of people in the United States, the America they knew on January 19, 2025, is not the one they live in today.
The journey to your dreams!
Sign up now to access our comprehensive guide on important topics such as visa processes, job finding strategies and living costs for those considering moving to America!
Sign Up Now
Startup Yatırımınızı Amerika’ya Taşıyarak Küresel Pazara Açılın
Read Blog
Amerika'da yaşam
Read Blog
Green Card İçin İş Garantisi: Amerika'ya Taşınmanın Anahtarı
Read Blog
The journey to your dreams!
Sign up now to access our comprehensive guide on important topics such as visa processes, job finding strategies and living costs for those considering moving to America!
Sign Up Now
BRBF Immigration Solutions LLC
104 Ten Eyck Pl #6 Guilderland NY
12084
+1 (518)
603-1682
[email protected]
+1 518-603-3299
© 2024 BRBF Immigration Solutions LLC
© 2024 BRBF Immigration Solutions LLC
U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services 
U.S. Department of
State
