A new analysis takes a closer look at how immigration is changing under President Trump,

and it paints a more complicated picture than the political rhetoric often suggests.

Liz Landers has more on how the Trump administration is reshaping the nation's immigration policy.

Omna, the president often touts a sharp drop in illegal entries to the country,

which have gone down

by 50,000 entries per month since the end of 2024. But a new analysis from the Kato Institute

suggests that's only part of the story. Legal immigration has fallen even more dramatically

under the Trump administration, with 132,000 fewer people being admitted per month

through legal pathways.

For more on what's behind those numbers, I'm joined by that study's author, David Beer.

He's the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute.

David, thanks for coming back on NewsHour.

Thanks for having me on.

This study shows that legal immigration has dropped sharply under this

Trump administration. What specific policy changes are driving that gap? Well, the biggest one by far

is the suspension of immigrant visa processing for 75 countries around the world. These are

mainly for family members of U.S. citizens who are coming to reunite with their family

members here.

Many are spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens.

In addition to that, they've also suspended all entries from about 40 countries.

So 92 countries now face de facto legal immigration ban by this administration,

encompassing about half of all legal immigrants to the United States.

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