Tipsheet

Approval of Asylum Claims Plummets Thanks to President Trump's Immigration Policies

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  April 10, 2026 7:30 AM

After years of Democratic policies on immigration led to courts turning into asylum factories, the Trump administration has all but put an end to the practice that let unvetted illegal immigrants into the nation.

Under Presidents Obama and Biden, asylum grant rates were routinely above 40 percent. During President Trump's first term, the grant rates dropped significantly, to below 30 percent at their lowest point. During President Trump's second term, that grant rate has plummeted to just seven percent in February of this year.

Here's more from the White House:

Since President Donald J. Trump returned to office, the United States has launched the most aggressive and successful immigration enforcement overhaul in modern history — and that extends to immigration courts. After four years of Biden-era chaos turned immigration courts into de facto amnesty factories for unvetted illegals, the Trump Administration is remaking the broken system.

President Trump took decisive action, replacing activist judges — who slow-walked deportations and granted asylum at sky-high rates — with professionals committed to enforcing the law, not undermining it.

No more activist judges shielding criminal illegals. No more endless delays. Only results.

  • Asylum grant rates have collapsed: Under President Trump, asylum is now granted in just seven percent of cases — a historic low, plummeting from over 50 percent rubber-stamped under Biden.
  • Deportations and removal orders are surging: In fiscal year 2025, immigration courts issued nearly 500,000 removal orders — a 57 percent increase over the prior year — as criminal illegals are removed faster and in far greater numbers than ever before.
  • The massive court backlog is being slashed: Hundreds of thousands of cases have already been cleared since Inauguration Day, with reductions accelerating every month — ending the years-long delays that let illegals remain indefinitely.
  • Overall enforcement is delivering results: More than three million illegals have left the country in President Trump's second term — the largest reduction in illegal immigration in modern history — while zero illegals have been released at the border for 11 straight months.

This is what we voted for.

That line is trending in the right direction.

Many people abused the asylum system, and as Townhall reported here, in Ohio, one person was teaching immigrants how to lie to the courts to gain asylum.

As some Republicans and Democrats pushed for the dangerous "Dignity Act," we must remember what we voted for: deportations, immigration reform, and American safety. We didn't vote for amnesty in any form.