Regulations, Litigation, and the Post-Chevron Era: Trump’s Likely Immigration Priorities

This week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy highlights the pivotal role regulations and litigation will play in shaping U.S. immigration policy under the Trump administration. The episode features Elizabeth Jacobs, the Center’s Director of Regulatory Affairs and Policy, who talks through the top immigration regulatory moves and legal battles likely to occur during the Trump administration.

Jacobs in conversation with podcast host Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director, describes how the Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Chevron deference — once a cornerstone of judicial deference to agency interpretations — has reshaped the legal terrain. This landmark shift gives courts greater authority to scrutinize agency actions, making many Trump-era policies more likely to withstand judicial challenges.

Key topics discussed include:

• Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): The legal challenges surrounding this long-contested program, created through regulation, and its alignment with congressional intent.
• Optional Practical Training (OPT): How regulatory changes could curtail this massive guestworker program, created by regulation, that permits foreign nationals to work on student visas despite having completed their studies.
• Public Charge Rule: The potential return of Trump’s 2019 definition to replace Clinton’s definition created by memorandum that Biden returned to without public comment.
• Temporary Protected Status (TPS): The implications of Biden’s expansions of the protection from removal afforded under TPS and how they may face rollbacks. The first battle could start in March when TPS for aliens from El Salvador will be up for renewal.
• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): The likelihood of the new administration challenging the 14 finalized rules impacting immigration enforcement — enacted under Biden and deemed exempt from NEPA requirements. A court ruling recently disagreed.
• Work Authorization Policies: Reforms targeting employment permits, including H-1B visa spousal work authorizations, which include fewer restrictions than the H-1B visa itself.

As Krikorian notes, “The regulatory and legal battleground will be ground zero for immigration policy starting on January 20.”

Host

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guest

Elizabeth Jacobs is the Director of Regulatory Affairs at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Related

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USCIS Auto-Extends Work Permits for Many TPS Beneficiaries

This Week’s Other Quasi-Amnesty: Biden Orders Expansion of Work Visa Options for DACAs

Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

• Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
• Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
• President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
• Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
• Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
• Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
• Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
• Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
• Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".