(SeaPRwire) – By: Gavin Thorne
The Trump administration doesn’t just want to stop illegal immigration. It’s systematically dismantling every legal pathway to U.S. residency. It puts one expensive barrier in place after another. The latest proposal is a $100,000 bond for certain green card applicants. It’s sold to voters as a common-sense fiscal measure. It is anything but that. This is a deliberate wedge to keep working-class and middle-class immigrants out of the country entirely.
The State Department confirmed it is weighing the bond for certain visa applicants. The bond targets applicants deemed likely to become public charges. The official line frames this as a way to protect U.S. public assistance funds for native citizens. It says it also gives wealthy applicants a chance to prove their self-sufficiency. Spokesperson Tommy Pigott tied the policy directly to Trump’s core immigration promises. The Wall Street Journal reports discussions center on a $100,000 bond for some green card applicants. The State Department declined to share more details when asked by TIME.
This is not an isolated policy change. It is part of a broader immigration crackdown. Trump launched this crackdown after returning to the White House for a second term. This year, the administration moved to strip citizenship from more than two dozen naturalized Americans. That move is unprecedented in modern U.S. history. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security proposed steep hikes to citizenship application fees. Immigration advocates say the hike will put naturalization out of reach for most low-income applicants.
Trump’s electoral base has long pushed for harsh immigration restrictions. This applies to both illegal and legal immigration. The proposal plays directly to that core coalition. Business groups that once pushed for more immigrant labor have lost sway in this administration. We saw that last fall, when the administration tried to charge companies $100,000 a year per H-1B visa. That policy would have killed most corporate hiring of skilled foreign workers. The H-1B fee was struck down in full by a federal judge last month, but the intent was clear.
The courts have already blocked two major immigration restrictions in the last month. Besides the H-1B fee, the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship on June 30. That ruling was a major blow to one of the administration’s top campaign promises. Right after the ruling, the Department of Justice said it would prioritize prosecuting birth tourism schemes. The administration keeps shifting tactics when courts block its bolder moves. It adds smaller, incremental barriers that are much harder to challenge as a group.
Most of these incremental restrictions will stand in court, and legal immigration to the U.S. will drop by more than a third before the 2028 election.
Author bio: Gavin Thorne, Washington D.C.-based investigative journalist tracking special interests and U.S. federal legislative affairs.