What were annual total immigrant admissions (including immigrants and nonimmigrant visas) under President Donald J. Trump from 2017 to 2020?
Executive summary
Official, year-by-year totals that combine immigrant admissions (permanent immigrants/green cards) and nonimmigrant visa admissions under President Trump for FY2017–FY2020 are not presented as a single combined figure in the available sources; the Department of Homeland Security Yearbook and State Department Visa Office reports contain the detailed components but the supplied search results here do not include a single table summing both categories for each year (available sources do not mention a combined annual total) [1] [2] [3] [4]. Public analyses note major declines in visa issuances and admissions in FY2020 driven largely by COVID-19 and related travel restrictions: immigrant visas issued abroad fell about 45% and nonimmigrant (temporary) visas dropped about 54% in FY2020 compared with FY2019 [5].
1. What the official sources cover — and what they don’t
The DHS Yearbook of Immigration Statistics provides detailed annual tables on lawful permanent residents (green cards), refugee admissions, adjustments of status and enforcement, while the State Department’s Report of the Visa Office publishes counts of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas issued abroad; however, the search results provided here point to those repositories but do not include a single pre-computed “total admissions = immigrants + nonimmigrant visas” by fiscal year for 2017–2020, so a direct numeric answer is not available from the supplied material [1] [2] [3] [4].
2. The big pattern: sharp drop in 2020 driven by COVID-19
Several analysts and government summaries attribute the large fall in both permanent and temporary admissions in FY2020 primarily to the global pandemic and related travel restrictions. Migration Policy noted that just over 250,000 immigrant visas were granted abroad in FY2020 compared with about 459,000 in FY2019 (a roughly 45% fall), and nonimmigrant visa issuances fell about 54% in FY2020 — indicating substantial year-over-year declines that year [5].
3. Why you’ll see different counts depending on methodology
“Admissions” can mean different things: DHS counts lawful permanent residents and adjustments of status; the State Department reports visas issued at consulates abroad; and CBP/OFO report admissions at ports of entry (arrivals). The Migration Policy analysis explains that immigrant visas granted abroad are only one piece of the picture because many green-card recipients adjust status inside the U.S.; similarly, nonimmigrant “visa issuances” omit people who enter via parole or who adjust from another status — so combining datasets requires careful harmonization [5] [6].
4. Specific pieces you can pull from the public reports
If you want to compute combined totals yourself from primary sources, use: DHS Yearbook tables for lawful permanent residents and adjustments (Yearbook pages for each FY, e.g., 2017 and 2020) and the State Department Report of the Visa Office for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas issued abroad by fiscal year (the State Department hosts annual Report of the Visa Office files, including 2017–2020) — the search results point to both repositories as the authoritative sources you would combine [1] [2] [3] [4].
5. Context: policy changes and travel bans also mattered
Analysts note that policy actions under the Trump administration — expanded vetting, travel bans, and other visa restrictions — likely contributed to declines in some categories before the pandemic, and refugee ceilings were sharply reduced (for example, the administration set an 18,000 refugee ceiling for FY2020) [7] [8] [9]. Migration Policy also argued that apart from refugees, the dramatic FY2020 drop is more plausibly explained by COVID-era travel constraints than by policy alone [5].
6. What reputable summaries report about magnitude (useful guideposts)
Non-government summaries and research organizations cite concrete magnitudes: the Migration Policy analysis flagged the roughly 45% drop in immigrant visas issued abroad and a 54% fall in temporary visas in FY2020 versus FY2019 [5]. USAFacts and other aggregators also described a near‑50% decline in authorized immigration in FY2020 relative to prior years, underscoring that 2020 was an outlier year [10].
7. How I’d recommend proceeding if you need exact yearly totals
To produce the precise annual totals you asked for, download the DHS Yearbook tables for each fiscal year 2017–2020 and the State Department’s Visa Office “Report of the Visa Office” for the same years and add the categories you want to include (immigrant visas + nonimmigrant visas or admissions at ports of entry). The sources referenced here are the authoritative starting points [1] [4] [2] [3]. If you want, I can extract the relevant table links and compute the sums for each fiscal year using those reports — tell me whether you want fiscal-year totals (Oct–Sep) or calendar-year totals and I will proceed.
Limitations: the provided search results reference the underlying data repositories and analyses but do not contain a single combined series for “immigrants + nonimmigrant visa admissions” for FY2017–FY2020; any numeric totals require combining tables from DHS and State Department reports (available sources do not mention a precomputed combined total) [1] [4] [5].