The Trump administration cut legal immigration in half early this year with policies blocking visas for immigrants from nearly half the globe.
今年年初，特朗普政府实施一系列政策，阻止了来自全球近半数国家的移民获得签证，从而将合法移民数量削减了一半。
The State Department issued just 26,000 immigrant visas, which grant a green card and legal permanent resident status, in February, compared with an average of 52,000 a month in the years before Trump took office, according to the most recent available government data.
根据最新可获得的政府数据，国务院2月仅发放了2.6万份移民签证（持有人可获得绿卡和合法永久居民身份）；在特朗普上任前的几年里，平均月签发量为5.2万份。
The policies, which took effect late last year and early this year, made it all but impossible to immigrate from 91 countries and reduced the number of immigrant visas available in another 61. Africa and the Middle East were hit particularly hard, and immigration from Muslim-majority countries plunged by more than 90 percent.
这些政策于去年底和今年初生效，令来自91个国家的人几乎不可能移民，并减少了另外61个国家可获得的移民签证数量。非洲和中东受到的打击尤其严重，来自穆斯林占多数国家的移民暴跌了90%以上。
President Trump has drawn attention for his crackdown on illegal immigration, but he has also been tough when it comes to limiting legal immigration. With the exception of the coronavirus pandemic, these cuts to legal immigration were the largest since the Hoover administration unilaterally denied visas to otherwise qualified legal immigrants during the Great Depression, according to David Bier, an immigration expert at the libertarian Cato Institute, which favors increased immigration.
特朗普总统因打击非法移民而引人关注，但他在限制合法移民方面也同样强硬。据主张扩大移民的自由主义智库卡托研究所的移民专家戴维·比尔表示，除新冠疫情期间外，此次对合法移民的削减幅度是自大萧条时期胡佛政府单方面拒绝向符合条件的合法移民发放签证以来最大的。
In the first year after Mr. Trump returned to office, the number of visas declined only slightly, by about 10 percent. Then in January, an expanded travel ban blocked people from 39 countries from receiving visas or entering the country, and a pause on visa issuance barred immigrants from 52 more countries. The immigrant diversity visa, a special visa for people from countries with few immigrants, was suspended a month earlier.
特朗普重返白宫后的第一年，签证数量仅小幅下降约10%。然后在1月，一项扩大后的旅行禁令阻止来自39个国家的人获得签证或进入美国，签证发放暂停措施则使来自另外52个国家的移民无法获得签证。针对移民人数较少国家者的特殊签证移民多样性签证在此前一个月被暂停。
The administration said the policies were put in place to improve the screening of visa applicants for security risks and for potential future use of public benefits.
政府表示，实施这些政策是为了改进对签证申请人的安全风险筛查，并防范其未来可能滥用公共福利。
For thousands of hopeful immigrants, the policies threw up an often heartbreaking final roadblock at the end of what, in most cases, is a years-long process to follow every rule to immigrate legally.
对成千上万满怀希望的移民来说，在他们通常长达数年、期间始终恪守各项规定的合法移民历程的终点，这些政策设置了一个往往令人心碎的最终障碍。
Daniel Brackins, a U.S. citizen living in Los Angeles, said his son was born in Kazakhstan because the new policies blocked his wife, Zhanna, from receiving a visa to enter the United States at the last step of the legal immigration process.
住在洛杉矶的美国公民丹尼尔·布拉金斯说，他的儿子在哈萨克斯坦出生，因为新政策阻止了他的妻子詹娜在合法移民程序的最后一步获得进入美国的签证。
“My wife and I have broken down many times, and it puts a lot of stress on the relationship,” he said, “especially watching my son grow up on video chat.”
“我和妻子多次崩溃，这给我们的关系带来很大压力，”他说，“尤其是只能通过视频通话看着儿子长大。”
For more than eight months, the State Department has issued almost no immigrant visas to people from the affected countries. Canada and Mexico, where visas were not restricted, were among the few countries that saw increases in new immigrant visas; together, they made up about 30 percent of all immigrant visas issued in February.
八个多月来，国务院几乎未向受影响国家的人发放移民签证。加拿大和墨西哥的签证未受限制，是少数新移民签证增加的国家；两国合计占2月所有移民签证的约30%。
More recent data was not available, and the State Department did not answer questions about why it had published visa statistics less frequently under Mr. Trump.
目前无法获得更近期的数据，国务院也未就特朗普执政期间为何减少签证统计数据发布频率的问题作出回应。
The new policies were imposed without congressional approval and have since been blocked in federal court. At the end of August, federal courts in two separate lawsuits ordered the government to begin issuing visas again. However, despite the court orders, a vast majority of the people whose visas had been blocked are still waiting.
新政策未经国会批准就实施，此后被联邦法院叫停。8月底，两起不同诉讼中的联邦法院命令政府重新开始发放签证。然而，尽管有法院命令，绝大多数签证被搁置的人仍在等待。
The wait has stranded Wilian Nelson Hernandez Morales in Guatemala since January. He has been unable to return to Middlesex, N.J., where he had been raising four kids with his wife, Angela Duro.
等待使得威廉·纳尔逊·埃尔南德斯·莫拉莱斯自一月起滞留在危地马拉。他一直无法返回新泽西州米德尔塞克斯，此前他一直与妻子安吉拉·杜罗在那里抚养四个孩子。
Mr. Hernandez came to the United States illegally as a minor 26 years ago and decided to apply for a marriage-based green card after he wed Ms. Duro, a U.S. citizen, in 2021. After four years, they traveled to Guatemala for an interview and were told that their application would have been approved if not for the visa freeze. Mr. Hernandez is still waiting for a visa to return to the United States.
埃尔南德斯26年前作为未成年人非法来到美国，并在2021年与身为美国公民的杜罗结婚后决定申请婚姻绿卡。四年后，他们前往危地马拉参加面谈，被告知如果不是因为签证冻结，他们的申请本应获得批准。埃尔南德斯仍在等待返回美国的签证。
Non-immigrant visas fell too
非移民签证也下降了
Immigrant visas have been most affected, but visas for students and workers declined as well, falling by 30 percent compared with a year before. Visas for tourists and business visitors were down about 25 percent in February.
移民签证受影响最大，但学生和工作签证也下降了，较一年前下降30%。2月，旅游和商务访客签证下降了约25%。
The travel ban fully prevented people from those 39 countries from obtaining student or work visas — and new rules and fees meant that fewer student and H-1B visas were issued to people from other countries, too. India and China, for example, were not subject to any bans, but still saw sharp declines in student and work visas.
旅行禁令完全阻止来自39个国家的人获得学生或工作签证——新规则和费用意味着向其他国家的人发放的学生和H-1B签证也更少。例如，印度和中国未受任何禁令限制，但学生和工作签证仍大幅下降。
注：含家属签证。Visas for seasonal agricultural workers and exchange workers remained at roughly the same levels as before, but visas for other seasonal workers in industries like hospitality and tourism declined.
季节性农业工人和交流项目工人的签证大致保持在以前的水平，但酒店和旅游等行业其他季节性工人的签证数量有所下降。
Mr. Trump has also closed or narrowed other legal pathways to enter the country, sharply limiting the refugee program, blocking people at ports of entry from applying for asylum and pulling all manner of bureaucratic levers to push immigrants to leave.
特朗普还关闭或收窄了其他合法入境途径，大幅限制难民计划，阻止人们在入境口岸申请庇护，并动用各种行政手段推动移民离开。
Immigration experts say these changes, along with the administration’s mass deportation campaign, are part of an effort to limit immigration of all kinds. Together, they may accomplish the same goals as the sweeping anti-immigration laws passed by Congress in the early 20th century with executive action alone.
移民专家说，这些变化以及政府的大规模驱逐行动都是旨在限制各类移民的举措的一部分。综合来看，仅凭行政措施，这些举措就可能实现与20世纪初国会通过的那些全面反移民法律相同的目标。
