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NO ISSUE ISdacaYour browser does not support the element.By Aryn Braun, West Coast correspondent, The Economist more tied to Donald Trump than immigration. While announcing his first run for president in 2015, Mr Trump called Mexicans criminals and rapists. Over the following nine years “Build the wall!” and “Mass deportation now!” became rallying cries for his campaigns. On the heels of his quick and decisive victory over Kamala Harris, Mr Trump will again try to curb legal immigration and deter the illegal kind. In 2025 his team will be more experienced and more effective.America’s immigration system is made up of scores of federal agencies. The process is badly outdated and confusing to navigate for immigrants and policymakers alike. Even with a trifecta—Republicans have captured control of the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as the presidency—reform in Congress is doubtful. Even so, the president has broad authority to change immigration rules and set different priorities.It is helpful to think about the changes Mr Trump could make on a sliding scale. On one side are technical tweaks. As in his first term, the president could limit the length of time for which a visa is valid, and make obtaining that visa harder by increasing vetting, fees and waiting times. The number of people granted green cards would again plummet. The president also has the power to set the number of refugees accepted. For the next four years, expect that number to be very low.At the border, Mr Trump has pledged to restart his policy which required some migrants who tried to cross the southern border to await court hearings in Mexico. But only about 70,000 migrants were enrolled in the programme, and that will only happen if Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s new president, co-operates. Mr Trump vows to drop a government scheme (which he calls an “app for smuggling illegals”) that lets migrants make appointments to apply for asylum. He also intends to end programmes that Joe Biden used to try to control the migrant flow, offering some nationalities work permits but not a path to citizenship. At the other end of the scale is Mr Trump’s most extreme proposal: mass deportations. Little can be achieved on that front without extra funding from Congress. But even poorly executed attempts to round up migrants in America’s interior would separate families and engender division between the Trump administration and Democratic-controlled states with laws protecting unauthorised immigrants who live there.Some things will be beyond Mr Trump’s control. His contentious policies will be challenged in the courts. If America’s economy cools, fewer migrants will come looking for jobs. If Venezuela sinks further into ruin, more citizens may stream north.There will be backlash. Increasing deportations or ending , a law protecting from removal those brought to America as children, could rejuvenate pro-immigrant protests like those in Mr Trump’s first term. That movement has gone quiet—but perhaps not for long.
