- Credits:
- Photo, Shutterstock. Helen’s Place LLC notes image of a child inside with hands on a window pane representing isolation, hiding, and family separation.
Helen’s Place LLC, Update March 18, 2026
After the first year of Trump 2.0 and expansion of the Immigration, Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, some Americans were so distracted by arguments over whether or not to “defund ICE” that they didn’t realize the American immigration system was already wrecked.
This dysfunctional immigration system, is handled by three agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for legal immigration; ICE for illegal immigration processing; and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). CBP and ICE agents now work together to conduct immigration raids.
Many MAGA voters now say that ICE went too far; that they didn’t mean they wanted detention centers built all over the U.S., a thug ICE force, or 3,000 non-immigrants a day rounded up – that they just wanted better border security. However, this is what you get when you vote in a cranky, vengeful minority hell bent on destruction. The ICE immigration crackdown involves deportations of individuals and families; not just people detained at the border, but picked-up within the U.S. like Minnesota.
Why so Many Americans Thought Trump had the Right Idea
Immigration in America has always been a contentious issue around who to let in and let stay. Unfortunately, people like Stephen Miller were waiting in the wings for the opportunity to tear down the whole U.S. immigration system when they got the chance.
Assisting in the effort, were right-wing pundits spewing propaganda of “woke” Democrats giving away America. This was spread by Fox News, Newsmax and social media hosts like Tucker Carlson. In fact, one of the reasons Kamala Harris lost her bid for the Presidency in 2024, was because Americans were angry about what they regarded as “open borders,” during the Biden administration.
The steady flow of non-immigrants crossing the southern border was extensively covered in the news about groups of Chinese and other ethnic groups from around the world, crossing into America illegally by the thousands. Today the number of illegals living in the U.S. is between 10 and 14 million – the highest in the world of any country.
America has had an invisible, “under class” workforce for so long that it isn’t recognized as having any value at all.
Incredibly, Democrats never presented a counter narrative or clear case as to why immigrants were important to America, and only stressed how they would crack down on border security if elected.
The Harris Campaign, for example, didn’t explain how immigrants do so much of the work that other Americans don’t want to do – including: farm labor, food processing and packaging, elder care, gardening, and food services. They also didn’t explain how low wage employment is important to many people who otherwise couldn’t afford it, and some businesses depend on.
This failure gave rise to an anti-immigrant sentiment compounded with border security anger.
Additionally, abuses in the existing, legal immigration system were never corrected during the Biden administration. For example, the outdated Family Based Immigration System allowed U.S. citizens to bring elderly relatives over to become an added burden on the Medicaid system in some cases – if the parents eventually became U.S. citizens to qualify for it.
It also allowed U.S. citizens to marry people from overseas for money and get away with it; a system where if the immigration fraud was caught, only the immigrant was punished and deported – and the U.S. citizen was free to do it again.
Other legal immigration abuses included the ability for businesses to hire contract laborers, and skilled IT professionals to fill jobs at much lower rates than it would be to hire U.S. workers for the same jobs.
Lastly, although legal immigrants and illegal non-immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than the general American population, their crimes seem bigger and more extensive in the media. This is because it’s difficult to argue against the idea that the crime wouldn’t have occurred if the immigrant hadn’t been admitted to the U.S. in the first place.
It was thus that many Americans believed the U.S. had out of control open borders and an unfair immigration system that benefitted legal immigrants and illegal aliens, and not American citizens.
Most Visible Changes in Immigration Policy During Trump 2.0
There was a time when U.S. citizens referred to the United States as a “nation of immigrants,” but many don’t say that anymore.
In fact diversity – as in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), is being stripped out of American culture by the Trump administration to effectively kill ethnic and cultural diversity. Every day, another American company, agency, or institution announces that it has dropped its DEI policies.
The Trump administration is reengineering immigration to favor an all-white society, by creating programs like allowing white farmers from South Africa to immigrate with their families, or grant millionaires immigration status after buying “gold cards” for entry. Only white people from Europe or South Africa, or those with enough money to buy in, are encouraged to come to America.
Existing immigration laws have also been reinterpreted and misinterpreted, in favor of generating Presidential Executive Orders that don’t require congressional approval, so that Trump officials can do whatever they want.
Additionally, the Trump 2.0 immigration system relies on a new or modified sets of terms and talking points to slander immigrants. For example, calling people “illegal alien criminals” instead of “illegal non-immigrants,” is used where the word “criminal” is tacked on to the descriptor.
Even better for their social engineering, is to add the word “dangerous” or “invader” whenever possible, like “dangerous, illegal alien criminals.”
Another example is to describe non-white immigrants – i.e. Haitians in Springfield, Ohio – as eaters of cats and dogs, or Somali’s in Minnesota as “corrupt, fraudsters.”
In the first year of Trump 2.0, immigration policies have crippled the American immigration system, including the court system, so much that it has swung from semi-dysfunctional under previous administrations, to extreme right-wing chaos. An immigration caseload of 750,000 unprocessed cases in 2016 has now ballooned to 3.8 million.
This is by design so that any waiting asylum and other cases can be revoked easily and people deported instead.
Green card holders – people who haven’t become citizens yet – are also losing legal status if they’re from countries the administration doesn’t like. In fact, some have had their citizenship appointments revoked, or Naturalization Ceremony to become a U.S. citizen cancelled.
Trump is using the money from the 2025 enacted “Big Beautiful Bill,” to amass a personal ICE and CBP goon squad wearing masks and riot gear. These agents are carrying out his agenda to deport thousands of non-immigrants – at a goal rate of 3, 000 people per day.
The costs of immigrant removal to the American taxpayer is growing, as detention centers around the U.S. and the world are built and maintained, and the cost of detention and deportation flights skyrocket.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is advertising that they’re coming for non-immigrants of every stripe and description. People of color are encouraged to self-deport.
Additionally, many American citizens are leaving the U.S. as well. 2026 marks the first year that more people are leaving America than are arriving.
The legal side of the immigration system has been disrupted including the family based system, refugee resettlement program, asylum seeker program, and Temporary Protective Status (TPS) program to name a few. Many embassies around the world have been closed to prevent passport issuance and processing of legal immigration paperwork.
We now have travel bans in place. Additionally, even tourists are being stopped from getting visitor visas. In some countries, people are choosing not to visit the U.S. at all – like Canadians who used to go to Palm Springs, CA for winter vacations every year.
Many students from abroad are not getting into the U.S. to attend colleges and universities – which is a large source of revenue for higher education schools.
Proposed Legal Immigration System
The century of family based immigration, also called “chain” migration, could have ended 20 years ago and been replaced with an employment based system to meet the needs of the American economy. It wasn’t, because people couldn’t let go of nostalgic ideas for the way things were done in the past – where one person emigrates and then brings over their wife and children, parents, brothers and sisters etc.
The problem with the family based system is that the United States stopped needing people without specific skills years ago.This is why all immigration laws should be reviewed and an Employment Based Immigration System established to replace it, including how to handle temporary workers needed for farm labor.
In a new employment-based system, family members who accompany an immigrant would also be required to work or make a contribution to American society, unless they are children under 18.
Important to note is that this proposed employment-based immigration system would NOT be based on the needs of the downtrodden around the world.
Instead, the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program candidates for relocation to the U.S., would be people who have skills that America needs too – like medical professionals.
Refugees allowed in would also be willing to move to areas of the country for a period of time i.e. five years, where their skills are needed the most, like doctors, or engineers capable of organizing, staffing or rebuilding medical facilities and infrastructure in America’s blighted towns i.e. in Appalachia.
Separately, in this employment-based system, America would still support refugee sites around the world where people could go to school, learn trades, English and other languages, and be places where the U.S. and other countries could accept skilled refugees from.
For people who have lived in the U.S. illegally but who could show a solid history of working and paying taxes, proper vetting and work permits only would be a viable option instead of deportation.
However, this would not be a pathway to citizenship – which many Americans will never accept. Work permit holders in addition to background checks, would agree to learn English, take an American Rights and Responsibilities course to understand the America’s judicial system and customs, and agree to comply with all American laws.
Resolving Immigration Problems
There will come a day when MAGA loses power, and Democrats will create new Immigration policies and laws. It may be possible to restore some of the old immigration system for handling legal immigration. However, handling Illegal immigration is another matter.
Whether or not to allow illegal aliens any amnesty or pathway to citizenship is likely never to be a settled issue – any more than the right to an abortion issue will be – because it’s too personal and controversial.
In fact, Americans fighting over immigration for decades has just led to a Groundhog Day situation.
Therefore, in order to move toward a compromise, it’s important to figure out an employment-based immigration system as described in the previously section.
Here is a possible outline of tasks for the Democratic Party to fix the immigration system handling legal and illegal immigration:
- Start with the U.S. border physical barriers and shore up how to prevent people from sneaking into the U.S. illegally by using the best technology available including the use of drone and AI technology. Also, establish better review methodology for “overstays”- people who legally entered the U.S. via visitor visas, but haven’t left.
- Review all border security policies from the Trump 2.0 era that appear to be working, and keep them in place until a better system can replace it. However, all deportation sites outside the U.S. and large numbers within the U.S. should be shut down immediately as excessive and inhumane.
- Allow non-immigrants already living in the U.S. to file for asylum and be issued a work permit until their hearing before an immigration judge. The immigration judge would have the authority to grant a two to five year at a time work-permit-only for those who don’t qualify for asylum but can prove they have skills that America needs. To obtain a renewal, a non-immigrant would provide tax returns and/or proof of other contributions to America like volunteer service.
- Enact Employment-based immigration laws around the work needed to be done by immigrants. These laws would include proper procedures for handling all legal and illegal immigration. Note that any immigrant living in the U.S. not filing for asylum within 24 months of the signing of the new law, would be subject to deportation proceedings at the discretion of the Immigration Judge – because failure to file indicates potential criminal activity and ineligibility to stay.
Ending the Immigration Groundhog Day Repeat Pattern
The U.S. Immigration controversy weakens the functioning and goodwill of the American people, and our enemies around the world must be thrilled by it – including Putin and Xi Jinping.
To get out of this repeat pattern, a compromise on a new immigration system as outlined in previous sections would help; America’s national security depends on it.
Since the issue of illegal immigration has caused chaos in America, if the Democrats get back in power they’d be wise before making changes, to study the Trump immigration system to understand the ordeal that the Trump Administration put America and the world through.
The focus of any dominant political party in America is to ensure that life is better for all Americans, and to drop divisive talking points that they used previously – like defund the police, pronoun usage and pathways to citizenship policies. Coming together to meld middle ground Independents and right-wing voters with the rest of the voting population is not impossible.
It’s important that if Democrats win the midterm elections – they avoid just reversing policies to go back to the Biden era that so much of the country rejected.
A worn-out political immigration loop must be prevented from happening again – which could allow another demagogue in America to gain power again.
This includes thinking differently and understand the key points that some Republicans made – although hard – that millions of Americans want a white male dominant society without immigrants. Enacting laws that benefit everyone will help offset the negativity of these voters because majority rule doesn’t have to be a cudgel.
Conclusion
We are now living in terrorist times, and more than ever will need to identify every person currently living in the U.S. for security purposes.
Due to the shortage of people allowed into the country under Trump 2.0., people already living here will become more valuable as time goes on, as we need them to take care of the elderly, and replace jobs with younger workers. Those with a solid work history and no criminal history are already vetted.
This is why we must treat all people in the U.S. better and not worse.
Every person who has lived here. for five or more years with a track record of working hard and willingness to fight for America, is important now – regardless of immigration status. It will take everyone standing fast together to fight the terrorist world at our doorstep, as well as the destruction from those who would dismantle America from within.
Related audio/video recording:
Alex Padilla discusses the state of immigration in America and his “Updating the Registry” bill in Congress with a design to register and give illegal non-citizens who have been in the U.S. for seven years or longer legal status and pathway to citizenship.
Colbert called the Trump administration brutal and cruel and hoped Padilla’s bill would pass. This is an interesting idea for readers who find the Helen’s Place LLC proposal for an employment/work permit only system for non-immigrants too restrictive:
YouTube, Alex Padilla, August 7, 2025, Padilla on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert: “This Administration has Gone too Far.”
Other related articles you may be interested in:
Article discusses the expanding detention system in the Trump 2.0 administration:
The American Immigration Council, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, January 23, 2026, “New Report Details ICE’s Expanding and Increasingly Unaccountable Detention System.”
Article discusses a potential jobs channel, like the weather channel to highlight and promote work in America for all those living in the U.S. regardless of immigration status:
Helen’s Place LLC, “Changing Flight Pattern on Employment: Proposed New Jobs Channel.”
Helen’s Place LLC is an information and educational materials company celebrating English Language Arts, Cognitive Science and the love of birds. It’s the maker of printed instructional, educational, and teaching materials for children and adults in the field of English Language Arts and Cognitive Science.
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