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Trump moves to limit refugee and asylum claims

President Trump is set to place a four-month pause on refugee resettlement and moving to end asylum for those who have entered the country without legal status, as a part of a series of executive orders to limit legal immigration.

"We are going to end asylum and close the border to illegals via proclamation, which creates an immediate removal process without possibility of asylum," said a White House official on a call with reporters on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss upcoming actions.

Details about the pause and the ban on asylum remain to be seen.

During his time in office, former President Joe Biden implemented his own policies to limit asylum claims. Last summer, heissued an executive order that allowed the processing of most asylum claims to be suspended when the seven-day average of unauthorized crossings breached 2,500 people.

Biden's final rule was even stricter. It mandated the suspension of asylum claims from those who cross between legal ports of entry when the seven day average is 1,500 crossings.

In Trump's first administration, he lowered the cap of refugees to 15,000, a historic low.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Ximena Bustillo
Ximena Bustillo is a multi-platform reporter at NPR covering politics out of the White House and Congress on air and in print.