Report Calls Trump Immigration Freeze 'Largest Fraud in History,' Citing Over $1 Billion in Fees for Unprocessed Applications

A new analysis from the Cato Institute says Trump administration immigration policies have left more than a million applications unprocessed while collecting over $1 billion in fees, a practice the report's author describes as "the largest fraud in the history of the U.S. immigration system."

The report estimates that roughly 2 million immigration-benefit applications are currently frozen worldwide, with more than half tied to applicants from Cuba, Venezuela, and Haiti. These cases span a wide range of benefits, including work permits, green cards, asylum claims, naturalization petitions, and temporary visas.

"The majority of applications and fees are coming from those three nationalities," said David Bier, the institute's director of immigration studies, to The Miami Herald.

According to the Cato Institute, the federal government has continued to accept fees for these applications while suspending or halting adjudication. In some cases, the report says, authorities have not issued denials or formally notified applicants of their ineligibility.

"The government took their money, and now it won't even adjudicate their applications" says the report, adding that in some instances officials have been instructed not to inform applicants that they are barred.

The Cato Institute attributes the backlog to a combination of policies introduced over the past year, including expanded travel bans, a freeze on processing immigration benefits for individuals from targeted countries, and a broader halt on issuing immigrant visas to dozens of nationalities. Together, these measures affect citizens from more than 90 countries and, according to the report, block a significant share of legal immigration pathways.

Fees associated with the frozen applications are estimated to exceed $1 billion, with the largest share coming from applicants seeking work authorization and permanent residency. Individual application processes can involve multiple fees, sometimes totaling several thousand dollars per applicant.

The analysis also highlights the cumulative effect of overlapping restrictions. Legal experts cited in the report say the combination of entry bans, processing freezes, and additional requirements has created barriers that are difficult to navigate. "It is virtually impossible to get through all of these," Bier said. "It really is a hopeless situation."

The policies have had a pronounced impact in communities with large immigrant populations, including South Florida, where many U.S. citizens and residents have pending petitions for relatives.