Maribel Hastings
Posted January 29, 2026
It’s hard to believe Trump has just finished his first year of a second term as president. His impact is devastating on many fronts—global and domestic— and it feels like years have passed. Worse, more is yet to come.
Immigrants have borne the brunt of a relentless war that is a multi-headed monster attacking us all in one way or another. Because immigrants do not operate in a vacuum. They are part of families, communities, and the economy, and everything has been adversely affected.
What began as detentions and deportations of alleged “criminals” is now a network of terror. Illegitimate racial profiling targets lawful residents and U.S. citizens, who must carry passports to prove citizenship—often still facing abuse from immigration agents. Due process, the rule of law, and the Constitution are violated.
Immigration detention now holds about 73,000—its highest in 25 years. Most detainees have no criminal record.
In his first year, Trump laid the groundwork for a dangerous militarization of cities and states led by Democrats by deploying National Guard troops to assist ICE and CBP agents, who are masked and drive unmarked cars, abuse their authority, and are becoming increasingly violent, to the point of shooting and killing a U.S. citizen, Renee Nicole Good, in Minneapolis. None of the besieged cities requested assistance from the federal government.
This is a strategy of provocation. The federal government fuels chaos to justify extreme measures like invoking the Insurrection Act, which lets the president deploy the Army within the country. Trump has already threatened Minneapolis with this.
With his low popularity ratings and the possibility of losing control of the House of Representatives and potentially the Senate in the midterm elections, it cannot be ruled out that Trump will even try to declare martial law, when the Armed Forces take control of a specific area or the entire country, and all laws and civil rights, including elections, are suspended.
On immigration, Trump has mostly used executive orders to support changes that seek to reduce, and even eliminate, mechanisms for immigrating to or remaining legally in the United States, including asylum and refuge, as well as programs such as TPS, humanitarian parole, and the granting of immigrant and work visas. He has de-legalized millions of immigrants to make them vulnerable to deportation.
“The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates that the Trump administration in the first year of its second term took more than 500 actions on immigration, surpassing the 472 actions over all four years of Trump’s first term,” concludes an analysis by the MPI.
Millions who had protection from deportation, work permits, and paid taxes have lost their status. Millions more are blocked from adjusting their status. Naturalization ceremonies have been canceled.
Trump has deported 622,000 immigrants, some to unfamiliar countries. They have not reached their goal of one million deportations a year. Others have self-deported. Immigration detention now holds about 73,000—its highest in 25 years. Most detainees have no criminal record.
Although some measures have been blocked in lower courts, the Supreme Court has been more favorable to Trump. One of the most anticipated pending cases is that of eliminating birthright citizenship for babies of undocumented parents.
In just one year, Trump’s immigration policy has caused devastating damage not only to separated families but also to the communities that suffer the brunt of the impact and to the economy, which is affected by the reduction in workers and consumers who pay taxes and sponsor businesses. Public safety suffers from the diversion of funds and staff to immigration tasks.
“What is undeniable is that the first year of Trump 2.0 has ushered in some of the most profound immigration policy changes in modern history, and the administration has three years ahead to deepen its impact. It remains to be seen if these changes will represent a temporary detour or a foundational shift in the country’s future,” the MPI analysis stated.
The question and concern is what comes next. When you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. A change of leadership in Congress could serve as a counterpart to Trump’s assault, laying the groundwork for immigration reforms that both parties avoided for decades, something that many now regret.
Maribel Hastings is a Senior Advisor to América’s Voice.
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