Legal Immigration from Majority-Muslim Nations Was Cut 96% Since 2024

During his campaign in 2016, President Trump repeatedly proposed an outright ban on Muslims entering the United States. He then claimed that this policy idea morphed into the travel ban to avoid potential constitutional problems. During his 2024 campaign, he said he would bring back an even stricter ban than the one in his first term. He has succeeded.

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Data from the State Department through February 2026 show that the Trump administration has cut legal immigration by nationals of 45 majority-Muslim countries by 96 percent since December 2024. Monthly immigrant visa issuances and permanent lawful refugee admissions fell from 21,096 in December 2024 to 808 in February 2026.

{snip} Immigrant visas—primarily for family members of US citizens—were down 95 percent. Meanwhile, refugee resettlement—immigrants admitted lawfully based on threats of persecution abroad—was completely ended for majority-Muslim countries, dropping from 5,157 admissions in December 2024 to 0 admissions in February 2026.

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If the current pace continues, the fiscal year 2026 (which started in October) would see the fewest immigrants and refugees from majority-Muslim countries in at least 30 years. If the February 2026 levels continue for the rest of the fiscal year (and they have for refugees, but we don’t yet have data on immigrant visa issuances), then only about 40,000 immigrants and refugees from these countries will have immigrated that year. This would be down nearly 80 percent from 2024 and even about 30 percent lower than 2020, when the first Trump administration used the pandemic as an excuse to cut off legal immigration. If the 2024 level had continued, another 180,000 immigrants and refugees could have come legally in 2025 and 2026.

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About half of the legal immigrants blocked by the new immigration restrictions are close family members of US citizens and legal permanent residents. About 3,500 spouses and minor children of US citizens are being blocked each month by the policies. But no category has escaped the restrictions. Even employment-based immigrant visas were reduced by 41 percent from December 2024 to February 2026.

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The causes of these drastic restrictions on legal immigration are

1. a presidential proclamation that suspended refugee admissions for 120 days starting January 2025;
2. a presidential determination allocating FY 2026 refugee admissions to South Africans with only minor exceptions (FY 2027’s version is coming);
3. a presidential proclamation that indefinitely bars entry to the United States by immigrants from 40 countries, of which 10 are majority-Muslim (since December 2025);
4. a memorandum by USCIS that applies the 40-country entry ban to US citizen petitioners who are inside the United States (since December 2025);
5. a State Department “immigrant visa pause” for 75 countries announced on their website, of which 28 are majority-Muslim (since January 2026);
6. a State Department suspension of the diversity visa lottery program (since December 2025); and
7. a State Department immigrant visa interview freeze (since August 2026).

As a result of the 75-country visa suspension and the 40-country entry ban, 34 of the 45 majority-Muslim countries were specifically barred. The eleven countries not subject to a specific entry ban or visa suspension are Bahrain, Brunei, Djibouti, Indonesia, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Nonetheless, as previously shown, seven of these eleven still saw immigrant visa issuances decline—six by 50 percent or more.

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