Approval of family-based visas for immigrants fell to its lowest level in more than a decade, highlighting an effort by the Trump administration to curb legal immigration to the U.S.
According to a Reuters analysis of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data, approvals of the family-based I-130 visas decreased by nearly a quarter in the first nine months of 2017 — a drop of more than 100,000 from the same period in 2016.
Both periods saw a similar number of I-130 applications, according to Reuters.
The decrease was even sharper for I-130 applicants who do not have immediate family in the U.S. or approved to come to the U.S., Reuters reported. Those approvals saw a drop of 70 percent, falling to 32,500 in the first nine months of 2017 from more than 108,000 in the same period a year earlier.
The number of fiancés of immigrants approved for visas also fell by 35 percent in the first nine months of 2017, according to Reuters.
USCIS told Reuters that there were normal fluctuations in the number of visas approved each year, and the agency's director, L. Francis Cissna, said that no specific guidance has been given that would change the way such visas are granted.
Cissna also told Reuters that there are no plans to restrict visas for immediate family members.
President Trump
Donald John TrumpHouse Democrat slams Donald Trump Jr. for ‘serious case of amnesia’ after testimony Skier Lindsey Vonn: I don’t want to represent Trump at Olympics Poll: 4 in 10 Republicans think senior Trump advisers had improper dealings with Russia MORE campaigned on a promise to crack down on illegal immigration, vowing to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. But his administration has also worked to reduce legal immigration into the country, as well.
Trump has particularly railed against so-called "chain migration," by which immigrants in the U.S. could bring in a long line of relatives from abroad, saying that the process lacks proper vetting procedures. He has also called for a merit-based immigration system.