Limiting migration led to 1.6 million losing legal status in 2025

By Ximena Bustillo,

Sergio Martínez-Beltrán

Published December 22, 2025 at 4:34 PM EST

The Trump administration has stripped legal status from 1.6 million immigrants in 11 months. It's the largest removal of deportation protections for legal migrants in U.S. history.

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.

Sergio Martínez-Beltrán

Sergio Martínez-Beltrán (SARE-he-oh mar-TEE-nez bel-TRAHN) is an immigration correspondent based in Texas.

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