Legal immigration decline is at the center of a new debate after Cato Institute challenged how Donald Trump framed asylum data, raising broader questions about U.S. immigration policy and its impact on lawful migration.
The Cato Institute, a prominent libertarian think tank, criticized President Donald Trump on Tuesday after he touted his new research showing a steep decline in legal immigration to the U.S.
In a Cato blog post, David J. Bier, the institute’s director of immigration studies, wrote that “President Trump reposted one of our charts today, saying Cato ‘hates TRUMP’ but ‘can’t hide the facts.'”
“To be clear, we routinely praise him when he deserves it, as Trump has recognized, but criticize him when he undermines individual liberty—like we do with all presidents,” Bier wrote. “But he’s right. We do publish the facts, regardless of what they show, because that’s what intellectual honesty requires.”
The response came after Trump posted a CATO chart showing legal entries by asylum seekers at legal entry points along the U.S.-Mexico border fell 99.9% from 48,713 in December 2024, the last full month of President Joe Biden’s term, to 3,361 in February 2025.
The rate of entries by legal asylum seekers has remained at that level throughout Trump’s second term, with a recorded 3,018 legal entries this February, according to the latest available Cato data.
“This was put out by the CATO Institute, who hates ‘TRUMP,’ but they can’t hide the facts. The Democrats were a DISASTER on the Border, and we were the best in the History of the U.S.A.!” Trump posted Tuesday on Truth Social while sharing Cato’s chart about legal asylum seekers. His post was also shared by the White House’s “Rapid Response” X account.
Bier noted that the chart Trump shared showed only legal entries by asylum seekers at ports of entry along the southwest border rather than illegal immigration.
“The people on that chart were going to official ports of entry, declaring themselves, applying for asylum—doing exactly what the law says they’re supposed to do,” Bier wrote. “They were following the rules. That’s what he cut by 99.9 percent—not illegal entries. The legal entries weren’t the ‘disaster.’ They were a good solution to the ‘disaster’ of illegal immigration.”
While Trump campaigned on securing the southern border and stemming the flow of illegal immigrants, his administration’s policies have had a profound effect on legal migration to the U.S.
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