If you asked folks in MAGA world what they appreciated most about the second Trump term, most would say they most appreciate the president shutting down illegal immigration.
But amid escalating complaints about H1B visa abuse, and chain migration, legal immigration has arisen as a major concern among conservatives.
So, it is with a quite ironic twist that the open-borders libertarian think tank CATO Institute recently issued a report on Trump's massive cuts to legal immigration.
This might as well be a 2026 midterm elections ad for the GOP.
Illegal entries had already fallen before President Trump took office, and while they have fallen further, declines in legal immigration far surpass those in illegal entries. Legal entries in major categories were down about 145,000 compared to a drop in illegal entries of about 53,000. Illegal entries are overstated because we are counting all Border Patrol arrests, including those of individuals expelled immediately.
CATO's Director of Immigration Studies David J. Bier also shared charts related to the dramatic fall-off in legal immigration.
I predicted this outcome as soon as he came into office because it was obvious all along that his admin's antipathy toward immigrants wasn't about their lack of legality. Here's the comparison of December 2024 and February 2026: https://t.co/pVEgcxMRoG https://t.co/Rl20pSDUEf
— David J. Bier (@David_J_Bier) October 9, 2026
"Illegal entries are down under Trump, but he's cut legal immigration even more than illegal immigration," Bier wrote on X. "The cuts to immigrants, refugees, parolees, students, H-1B workers, and fiancés were 2.7 times as large as the cut in Border Patrol arrests and evasions."
"I predicted this outcome as soon as he came into office because it was obvious all along that his admin's antipathy toward immigrants wasn't about their lack of legality," he added.
Well, many Americans don't really care what the president's attitude may be toward immigrants because we have too many coming into the country and taking high-paying jobs or otherwise looting the welfare system.
This isn't idle hyperbole. It is what the numbers show.
@WhitePapersPol Did @CatoInstitute totally ignore these numbers?
— Sara (@CowardsDieMany) February 7, 2026
As pointed out by the White Papers Policy Institute:
Immigrants continue to use mountains of welfare in the US, the 2024 CIS update shows.
Half of naturalized immigrants are using welfare.
58% of all immigrants are utilizing the welfare state (including 51% of LEGAL immigrants).
Americans are subsidizing their replacement.
The Center for Immigration Studies provided the data that appear to be completely ignored by the CATO Institute in its open-borders advocacy rants.
- The 2024 SIPP indicates that 53 percent of households headed by immigrants — naturalized citizens, legal residents, and illegal immigrants — used one or more major welfare programs. This compares to 37 percent for U.S.-born households.
- The rate is 59 percent for non-citizen households (e.g. green card holders and illegal immigrants).
- Compared to households headed by the U.S.-born, immigrant-headed households have especially high use of food programs (35 percent vs. 22 percent for the U.S.-born), Medicaid (39 percent vs. 27 percent for the U.S.-born), and the Earned Income Tax Credit (15 percent vs. 10 percent for the U.S.-born).
- Our best estimate is that 51 percent of households headed by legal immigrants use at least one major welfare program. Among illegal immigrants, also called the illegal immigrant, we estimate the rate is 61 percent. We have no evidence that this is due to fraud.
- Illegal immigrants can receive welfare on behalf of their U.S.-born children, and illegal-alien children can receive free/reduced price school lunch/breakfast and WIC directly. A number of states provide Medicaid to some illegal alien adults and children, and a few provide SNAP. Several million illegal aliens also have work authorization (e.g. DACA, TPS, and many parolees) allowing receipt of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
It might behoove the CATO Institute to consider such arguments when typecasting conservatives as having "antipathy" towards legal immigrants.
It's not about xenophobia. It's the economy, stupid.