LOS ALAMITOS, Calif — As of March 26, President Donald J. Trump has officially signed a law requiring voters to be American citizens to cast their ballots in presidential elections. This law requires government workers to check proof of American citizenship before voting at a government office.
This law is part of a series of anti-immigration legislations that Trump has established since his election on Jan. 20, 2025, which marks his historic win over former Vice President Kamala Harris. These laws justify the denial of immigration rights, based on the belief that this will protect American citizens and encourage economic growth. As of Jan. 20th, Trump has revived 27 anti-immigration policies from his previous term and created 7 additional laws meant to discourage immigration.
Unfortunately, Trump’s sentiments towards immigration are long-lasting.
Since his first election on Nov. 8, 2016, Trump has implemented 472 administrative changes that have decreased and changed the abilities of the U.S. immigration system.
These laws include suspending and decreasing entry to the U.S., restricting immigrant health rights and imposing strict security measures on immigrants.
One executive order, imposed on Jan. 27, 2017, suspended entry for citizens of seven countries for 90 days. This law, nicknamed “Protecting the Nation From Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals” encompasses Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen–more than 134 million people.
Another recent order, imposed on the day of Trump’s reelection (Jan. 20, 2025), was Executive Order 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” This law requires the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize the compliance of aliens to register with the government under the Immigration and Nationality Act. This law also forces aliens 14 years and older to apply for registration and fingerprinting when applying for a visa and who are in the U.S. for 30 days or longer.
Moreover, Trump also carried out his anti-immigration agenda by twisting the purpose of the Alien Enemies Act.
According to ACLU News, the Alien Enemies Act, imposed in 1798, was used to justify the World War II internment of non-citizens. Now, Trump is utilizing it to deport immigrants without giving them access to a fair trial.
In addition to the enactment of current anti-immigration laws, Trump has promised to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. His current goal with reelection seems to be successful. According to Reuters, Trump deported 37,660 people during January, his first month in office. So far, he has established 21 actions meant to overthrow the U.S. immigration system.
Furthermore, Trump has revoked 530,000 U.S. immigrants’ legal status, including Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. The law was imposed on April 24, 2025, and lowers the two-year staying period given to illegal immigrants previously enforced by the Biden administration.
These laws, installed to discourage U.S. immigration, not only prevent illegal immigration but also take away the rights of U.S. immigrants entirely.
While anti-immigrationists believe this will strengthen the American economy, nationalism and national security, unfortunately, this is not the case. If Trump strips immigration rights by the end of his term, it will destroy America.
According to The National Institute of Health (NIH), mass deportation can result in mental health disorders like depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In addition, mass deportation can also damage the U.S. economy and workforce.
“Immigrants have similar rates of employment as their U.S.-born counterparts and play outsized roles in certain occupations such as agriculture, construction and health care. Research has found that immigrants help foster job growth through entrepreneurship and the consumption of goods and services. In addition, immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, pay billions of dollars in federal, state and taxes each year,” said KFF staff writers Drishti Pillai and Samantha Artiga.
Anti-immigration will damage employment, consumption and inflation in the U.S.. In addition to these consequences, according to the National Immigrant Justice Center, Trump’s anti-immigration laws cause senseless and needless refugee attacks, criminalize immigrant communities, separate immigrant families and increase racist attitudes. Besides its damaging effects on immigrants, these laws also result in economic deficits by wasting military and taxpayer resources and decreasing immigrant organization funding cuts and criminal prosecution.
These laws weaken America’s economy and education and facilitate needless race-based violence and criminalization.
However, not all laws are unjust. In fact, regulatory immigration laws can demonstrate positive effects on American overpopulation and resource depletion.
“As an immigrant, I think anti-immigration laws are a complicated concept. Some laws are good and necessary, but some are not the best. I feel like there needs to be a reform of the laws because we are in a different era. It is messy. For example, look at Switzerland; they won’t let anyone in the country and this damages their economy,” said Los Alamitos High School senior Elliot Dominguez.
However, many young people believe anti-immigration laws should be abolished entirely.
“Anti-immigration laws are weird because we have tons of migrants every year,” said Los Al senior Mason Iaano.
Unfortunately, despite controversial public opinion, the Trump administration rolled back Biden-era extensions of Temporary Protected Status for more than 1 million people from Venezuela and Haiti. Even more, 4,000 more people are sitting in detention facilities than when Mr. Trump first took office. Hopefully, when these consequences come to light, President Trump will see the error of his anti-immigrant sentiments.
