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The Trump administration recently said they are pausing the processing of immigration applications, including asylum cases. National security was the reason given. Should the U.S. stop admitting immigrants? Newsweek contributors Steve Cortes and Raul A. Reyes debate:
Steve Cortes: We're not doing immigration correctly in the recent era. Illegal aliens have overrun our country for decades, a scourge upon the land. But even legal migration overwhelms our country. America now has the largest population of foreigners here in all of our history, both numerically and in percentage. The majority of immigrant-headed households in the U.S. receive means-tested government assistance, or welfare. That rate is far higher than for native-born Americans. Among Somali immigrants in Minnesota, that number climbs to a staggering 81 percent on public assistance. It is time for a pause, as we have done in the past. Let’s assimilate legal migrants, heal our country and determine a sensible, restrained immigration plan going forward.
Raul A. Reyes: Not only is “pausing” immigration a bad idea, there is no sound economic case for doing so. First off, it is inaccurate, and dehumanizing, to characterize undocumented immigrants as “a scourge upon the land” when they paid $96 billion in taxes in 2022 alone. Secondly, the stats Steve Cortes cites about immigrants and public services come from one anti-immigration group. More balanced reporting from health policy organizations, the Cato Institute, NBC News and others show that immigrants access public services at lower rates than the native-born. Far from “overwhelming” our country, immigrants are a net positive to our economy. In 2025, nearly half of Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants or their children. Why put the brakes on economic growth?
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Steve Cortes: Illegal immigration is a scourge because every single trespasser disrespects our home by entering our country without permission. Moreover, every additional crime they commit is 100 percent preventable. On legal migrants, this country has not expected and demanded assimilation, as we did in past eras of high immigration. Combined with mounting recent job layoffs of citizens, a pause makes sense. Let our American family heal, coalesce and also assimilate the giant wave of recent arrivals.
Raul A. Reyes: Scapegoating migrants, like lawful asylum-seekers, is not going to “heal” the country. Nor is conflating immigrants with crime, an association not supported by research. The American people recognize this, which is why they do not support a pause on immigration. According to Gallup polling, 64 percent of Americans want the same or increased levels of migration. An overwhelming 79 percent of Americans believe that immigration is “a good thing for the country.”
Steve Cortes: America is our country. It belongs to the citizens of our land. It is our heritage and responsibility, a physical place with proper boundaries and reasonable rules. Immigration exists for one reason only: to improve the lives of existing citizens. Illegal immigration is an assault on our national family—and legal immigration is now structured to reward big business, globalist elites and foreigners, rather than Americans.
Raul A. Reyes: The administration has clamped down on virtually every form of immigration, with results that provide a preview of what a pause on immigration would look like: Our global standing has tumbled, with fewer people abroad seeing the U.S. as a force for good. ICE raids have exacerbated our farm labor shortage. The health care industry is worried about finding enough workers. Only 37 percent of Americans support the president’s restrictionist approach to immigration. So enough with the divisive rhetoric. To strengthen our country, we need more legal pathways to migration, not to slam the door on those in search of a better future. What makes America exceptional is our tradition of welcoming people from around the world.
Steve Cortes: For most of U.S. history, we did immigration very well and it served our citizens. We demanded assimilation, provided zero government safety net and needed workers badly. Now, many immigrants live for decades in parallel non-assimilated communities, migrants demand massive amounts of taxpayer-provided benefits and AI/automation begins to wipe out jobs on a large scale. It’s time for a pause—time to reclaim our sovereignty, prosperity and our uniquely American culture.
Raul A. Reyes is an immigration attorney and television commentator in New York City. Follow him on X: @RaulAReyes; IG: @raulareyes1.
Steve Cortes is president of the League of American Workers, a populist right pro-laborer advocacy group, and senior political advisor to Catholic Vote. He is a former senior advisor to President Donald Trump and JD Vance, plus a former commentator for Fox News and CNN*.*
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
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