The Times They Are A-Changing – Bob Dylan

On the first day of his second term of office, President Donald Trump issued ten Executive Orders and Proclamations seeking to change the face of US Immigration Law and Policy.

According to the American Immigration Council, in their Fact Sheet of 22 January 2025, the Trump Administration has followed up the record of its first term, and the promises of his presidential campaign. This Fact Sheet aims to explain not just the scope of the Executive Orders, but also what precisely they aim to do and on what timescale. Most of the policy changes take the form of instructions to Federal departments or agencies.

The key policy changes are:

(a) Ordering the expansion of “Expedited Removal” which allows the US to deport someone without a court hearing. US Officials will be authorised to arrest someone accused of entering the country without inspection anywhere inside the US and subject them to Expedited Removal if they believe that person has been there for less than two years, with the burden on the immigrant to prove that they have been in the US for longer.

“Expedited Removal” is a process by which a low level Immigration Officer can summarily remove certain non-citizens from the United States without a hearing before an immigration Judge.

Undocumented immigrants placed in expedited removal proceedings are entitled to access the asylum system if they express a fear of persecution or torture if returning to their own country.

(b) Requiring all non-citizens to register and present their fingerprints to the US Government under a rarely used provision of US law and declaring that all those who have not registered will be subject to criminal penalties.

(c) Instructing the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that work permits are not given to people without other legal status even if they have a pending immigration application. This change will radically restrict the population of people who are eligible to work in the US legally.

(d) Directing the Office of Management and Budget to take action to ensure that no public benefits are provided to unauthorised immigrants.

(e) Threatening the revocation of all Federal funding to States and Localities deemed to be sanctuary jurisdictions.

Over the past decade, an increasing number of states, counties and cities have adopted a variety of policies intended to promote a greater level of trust and cooperation between local law enforcement and communities with sizeable immigrant populations, regardless of their immigration status.

(f) Revoking all Biden’s policy setting priorities for immigration enforcement and directing audits of any Federal contracts with non-governmental organisations engaged directly or indirectly in assisting undocumented immigrants in any way including freezing all funding during these audits and threatening to order the return of those funds following the audit.

According to the American Immigration Council Fact Sheet, the immediate effect of the above measure are:

• The expansion of expedited removal will subject millions of recent arrivals and others to potential deportation without a court hearing and increase racial profiling through the expansion funding threats, criminal prosecution to sanctuary jurisdictions so as to potentially intimidate localities.
• Depriving applicants of legal status for the ability to work legally which creates a strain on local government by preventing people from being able to support themselves.

However, Trump is not alone in pushing a restrictive immigration agenda as many EU Member States have also been looking at ways to limit irregular migration and increase returns. Trump’s actions in this regard could serve as inspiration for EU leaders. It is predictable that proposals for mass deportation may increasingly appear in the European far right narrative.

Both the US, United Kingdom and Australia have been experimenting already with offshore detention abroad. In recent months, the British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has made joint statements on irregular migrations with Italy and Germany.

A new joint mission exists between the UK and Bulgaria to tackle the people smuggling gangs making millions from ferrying irregular migrants across the English Channel. The alliance is part of the UK’s wider mission to bolster partnership with EU Member States. This increased focus on Bulgaria comes after the country became a full member of the EU Schengen borders and travel zone on 1 January 2025. This has made the country’s border with Turkey a key target for people trafficking others illegally, seeking to reach the European countries.

In addition, current UK changes to the immigration rules state that refugees who arrive in the UK after making a dangerous journey or via irregular routes will not be allowed to claim citizenship under a change to the immigration laws.

The new guidance for staff assessing naturalisation claims states that any person applying for citizenship from 10 February 2025, who previously entered the UK illegally will normally be refused. This change to the rules comes as the Prime Minister seeks to present a hardline on migration and border security.

Even the current UK Immigration Rules are not too different to some of Trump’s new proposals.

In the UK Immigration Enforcement Officers have a wide range of powers provided to them under schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 – their powers include locating, arresting and detaining individuals for the purposes of removal. Immigration Officers are allowed to detain individual even when removal directions haven’t been made against them – as long as officers have “reasonable grounds” for suspecting that the individual in question may be given removal directions, they are able to exercise these powers, meaning they have similar powers to US officials working under Trump’s new “Expedited Removal” system.

The Labour Party announced in their official manifesto how they intend to “set up a new returns and enforcement unit, with an additional 1,000 staff, to fast-track removals”. There also a number of Immigration Removal Centres, Short-Term Holding Facilities and Pre-Departure Accommodations in the UK – as per the Home Office report titled ‘How many people are detained or returned?’ published on 13 June 2024, 16,031 people entered immigration detention between March 2023 and March 2024.

Sometimes the Home Office releases through liable to detention in removal centres Immigration Bail, during which they must frequently report to the Home Office.

The UK is also part of the Eurodac system – this is a Europe-wide fingerprint database. As per Eurodac regulations, any person aged 14 or above who has either claimed asylum in the UK or come to the UK illegally must be fingerprinted.

These requirements to submit fingerprints is not only applicable to asylum seekers and illegal entrants in the UK – as per the UK’s Biometric enrolment policy, all individuals over the age of 5 who make any applications under the Immigration Rules are required to give their biometrics, which means they must attend a biometric appointment to provide scans of their fingerprints and a digital photograph of themselves. This is of course not dissimilar to Trump’s plan to require non-citizens to register and present their fingerprints to the government.

Further, most people without valid leave in the UK are not permitted to work, even if they have outstanding immigration applications which are pending a decision. The Home Office guidance titled ‘Permission to work and volunteering for asylum seekers’ confirms that asylum seekers specifically cannot apply for permission to work unless they have been waiting for more than 12 months for a decision.

Even when asylum seekers have been waiting for more than 12 months for a decision, they can only apply for permission to work if they have highly specialised skills which would allow them to obtain a job on the immigration salary list – this list only has 23 jobs on it, many of which require advanced qualifications.

Employers also face heavy sanctions if they employ anybody without valid immigration status in the UK – the government’s guidance titled ‘Employer’s guide to right to work checks’ summarizes how they can face civil penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal worker, face criminal convictions carrying a prison sentence of up to 5 years and an unlimited fine, or have their business closed by way of a court order. There is also quarterly report published by the Home Office outlining the companies which have faced illegal working penalties.

Landlords in the UK can also face similar penalties for renting those without the right to rent – these penalties can also range from fines to a period of imprisonment. Those in the UK without valid leave don’t have the right to rent – this includes asylum seekers who are awaiting decisions on their claims.

Despite most individuals awaiting decisions on their immigration applications not being able to work whilst their applications are pending, the UK also does not allow these individuals to access public funds. Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, people who do not have any immigration permission are excluded from benefits and housing. It also outlines the ‘NRPF’ condition – NRPF stands for ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’, which is a condition applicable to most visas in the UK, meaning many immigrants who have valid leave are also unable to access public funds.

When it comes to asylum seekers specifically, they cannot claim mainstream welfare benefits or housing assistance whilst their asylum claims are pending decision – instead, they receive a specific, limited amount of support from the Home Office called “asylum support”, to cover basic needs like food and accommodation. Asylum seekers in self-catered accommodation receive £49.18 weekly for their needs, whereas those in catered accommodation receive £8.86 per week.

There are also several other examples of immigration policy in the UK which could be considered hostile – over the last few years, for example, the Immigration Rules have been changed to prevent Care Workers and Students below PhD level from bringing their dependents with them. The minimum salary level which Skilled Workers and individuals intending to bring Partners to the UK has also increased – all of these measures are likely intended to deter immigration from various demographics.

The UK also has very strict provisions within the Immigration Rules which prevent those with custodial sentences from coming to the UK – anybody who has ever received a custodial sentence of any length, for example, can generally not come to the UK as a visitor. Those applying for work visas also need to meet several suitability requirements – they must show that they do not fall for refusal under Part 9 of the Immigration Rules, which is a section preventing many people with custodial sentences and previous immigration offences from applying to enter the UK legally in future.

The Home Office also sometimes certifies asylum and/or human rights claims as “manifestly unfounded”, under section 94(1) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 – if a claim is certified as being manifestly unfounded, this prevents the individual in question from appealing their refused decision. The Home Office guidance on this section clearly outlines that the policy intention behind certifying claims as manifestly unfounded is to enable individuals to be removed once the claim is refused and certified.

The difference between Trump’s new policies, and existing policies in the UK and Europe, therefore, is not too large – Trump does not hesitate to use the word “deportation”. European leaders, on the other hand, speak of returns or return hubs.

Whilst Trump qualifies some migrants as illegal, European leaders call it irregular.

A new role within the European Union is that of the EU Return Coordinator, a novelty introduced by the new Pact on Migration and Asylum. The main task of the EU Return Coordinator is to bring together different strands of EU return policy to support coherent implementation and establish a common EU system for returns of illegal immigration. The European Commission appointed Ms Mari Juritsch as Return Coordinator in March 2022. She works with a high-level network of return officials and, together with her network, provides practical and operational support to member states to increase the effectiveness of the overall returns process.

The role will help identify the best use of member states’ national return systems because operational realities vary greatly from one country to another. The network aims to link member states’ return activities more closely with the EU and member state engagement with third countries on their readmission, making cooperation with third countries more effective.