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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Chris Christie stated on June 6, 2023 in campaign announcement speech: Donald Trump “never changed one immigration law.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" mostly-true/4ac7c61540eff5211f6a04d98a6bc93a.jpg.\\") ![\\"mostly- true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") * Immigration * National * Congress * Chris Christie ![\\"A](\\" A photograph of former President Donald Trump hangs on the wall as Republican presidential candidate, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie listens to a question during a gathering, Tuesday, June 6, 2023, in Manchester, N.H. (AP) ![\\"Amy](\\" By Amy Sherman June 12, 2023 # Trump did not sign any major immigration laws, but he did issue orders that changed policy #### If Your Time is short * It has been decades since Congress enacted major immigration legislation, and that includes Trump’s presidency. * Trump’s time in office saw 472 measures on immigration that had drastic implications, according to one think tank’s estimate. His executive actions included efforts to restrict access at the southern border. See the sources for this fact-check Chris Christie has offered many reasons why he is running against his former ally Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary. Since announcing his candidacy, Christie, a former New Jersey governor, has blamed Trump for the chaos at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, for the ballooning national debt and for illegal immigrants \"pouring over our southern border.\" \"It is his fault because he never changed one immigration law in the two years that he had Republican control of Congress,\" said Christie during his June 6 announcement in New Hampshire. \"Not one immigration law did he change. He didn’t build the wall, and Mexico is laughing at the idea that they were going to pay for a wall on their border.\" Trump’s immigration policies made a lot of news while he was in office, but Christie is largely correct that Trump did not sign any major immigration law during his presidency. What Christie’s statement dismisses, however, is the impact of Trump’s executive orders and Congress did approve money for a border structure. Changes during Trump’s tenure increased enforcement and restricted legal immigration, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan policy group. And Trump’s administration \"set an unprecedented pace\" for executive actions, notching 472 changes, the institute found in a 2022 report. \"The Trump administration was arguably the first to take full advantage of the executive branch’s vast authority on immigration,\" the report states. But a comprehensive change to actual immigration law hasn’t happened in decades — under either Democratic or Republican administrations, even when the White House and Congress were controlled by the same party. David Bier, associate director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said \"the executive actions are hugely important, but not as important as laws. Laws are more important because they last for much longer and can’t be reversed by a president.\" The last major legalization effort was the 1986 law signed by President Ronald Reagan. Congress passed some other notable immigration laws in the 1990s and 2000s, most recently the 2006 Secure Fence Act, passed after the Senate failed to enact immigration reform. The 2006 bill mandated the construction of 700 miles of a fence on the southern border. Trump entered the White House promising a southern border wall to stop illegal crossings and saying he’d work with Congress to pass laws to crack down on illegal immigration. Trump failed to complete a border wall, though he did achieve funding for some of it. And Congress failed to pass any immigration bills even when Republicans controlled both chambers. Rick Su, an immigration law professor at the University of North Carolina, said executive orders can change policies in major ways. \"For example, that is one of the arguments against (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals); that Obama essentially rewrote the law and set up a legal system that was not approved by Congress,\" Su said. The program deferred deportation for certain people who are in the U.S. illegally but arrived in the U.S. as children and met strict criteria. Trump viewed executive actions as his best chance to get what he wanted without having to negotiate with Congress or share the credit, Theresa Cardinal Brown, director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, previously told PolitiFact. We emailed a contact for Christie’s campaign and received no response. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" ![](\\" JD Vance stated on August 25, 2024 in an interview on NBC\'s \"Meet the Press\" A zero-tolerance policy during the Trump administration \"led to less family separation than under Kamala Harris\' border policies.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Amy Sherman • September 4, 2024 What Trump achieved through executive action Working through executive actions, Trump advanced several of his immigration promises, but other attempts were slapped back by courts or rejected by Congress. In January 2017, Trump signed the first version of what he called a \"travel ban.\" The Supreme Court in 2018 upheld the third iteration of the ban. The bans prevented nationals from multiple Muslim-majority nations in the Middle East and Africa to varying degrees. Biden reversed the policy in 2021. The Trump administration created the Migrant Protection Protocols, or \"Remain in Mexico\" program, in January 2019 via a Department of Homeland Security memo. The program sent tens of thousands of migrants seeking asylum back to Mexico to await their immigration court proceedings. The Biden administration tried to end \"Remain in Mexico\" in 2021 but was challenged in court. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 ruled 5-4 that the Biden administration could end Remain in Mexico. The policy is still being litigated. The COVID-19 pandemic gave Trump another route to restrict immigration. In March 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order using Title 42, a public health policy, to quickly expel people arriving at the southern border. The COVID-19 public health emergency lifted May 11, and so did the policy. Some actions by the Trump administration were through policy rather than formal orders. Amid an increase in southwest border apprehensions in 2018, the Trump administration had a \"zero-tolerance\" policy to deter illegal immigration, which led to the separation of thousands of children from their parents. More than 650 children were separated from their parents during a two-week period in May as a result of the new approach being implemented. After public backlash, Trump signed an executive order to instead detain families together. On the whole, Trump-era policies blocked asylum access for most seekers and contributed to a decrease in people coming to the border, the Migration Policy Institute found. Congress blessed some money for Trump priorities Technically speaking, Trump did earn some immigration-related legislation through congressional appropriations bills, said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. He also diverted money from the Defense Department for the border wall. What this shows is how much discretion and authority Congress has given the president through enacted laws. \"That is why executive orders can change practices and policies so radically,\" Su said. \"Even if they are not laws, they feel like it, because they are within the broad authority that Congress has given the executive branch over the years with respect to immigration.\" Our ruling Christie said Trump \"never changed one immigration law.\" No major bill passed during Trump’s presidency to change immigration law. But it’s worth clarifying that the Trump administration enacted hundreds of changes in immigration policy through executive action and earned funding for some of his priorities, including border wall projects. Executive actions can be powerful, but they can be easily undone by new administrations. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. That’s our definition of Mostly True. **RELATED** : Ron DeSantis\' claim that Trump wanted to grant ‘amnesty’ to 2 million people needs context **RELATED** : Donald Trump’s immigration promises: failures and achievements #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources C-SPAN, Chris Christie Announces Presidential Campaign at New Hampshire Town Hall, June 6, 2023 Migration Policy Institute, Four Years of Profound Change: Immigration Policy during the Trump Presidency, February 2022 Migration Policy Institute, Major U.S. immigration laws 1790-March 2013 Congress.gov, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act, July 1, 2019 White House, Proclamation on Ending Discriminatory Bans on Entry to The United States, Jan. 20, 2021 NPR, Biden Has Overturned Trump\'s \'Muslim Travel Ban.\' Activists Say That\'s Not Enough, March 6, 2021 U.S. Supreme Court, Biden v Texas, 2022 Justice Action Center, Texas v. Biden (TX RMX) - District Court, May 2023 PolitiFact, What you need to know about the Trump administration’s zero- tolerance immigration policy, June 6, 2018 Factcheck.org, FactChecking Chris Christie’s Presidential Announcement, June 7, 2023 Email interview, Kathleen Bush-Joseph, associate policy analyst, US Immigration Policy Program, Migration Policy Institute, June 8, 2023 Email interview, David J. Bier, associate director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, June 8, 2023 Email interview, Rick Su, an immigration law professor at University of North Carolina, June 8, 2023 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Amy Sherman ![](\\" ![](\\" JD Vance stated on August 25, 2024 in an interview on NBC\'s \"Meet the Press\": A zero-tolerance policy during the Trump administration \"led to less family separation than under Kamala Harris\' border policies.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Amy Sherman • September 4, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on August 26, 2024 in an interview with a podcaster: Vice President Kamala Harris “is a communist. … She is really a Marxist.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Amy Sherman • September 4, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Rick Scott stated on August 28, 2024 in a post on X: “This month alone, more than 16,000 non-citizens have been removed from the voter rolls in 3 states.” ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • August 29, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on August 23, 2024 in a speech in Las Vegas: “Kamala cast the tiebreaking vote to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to go after your tip income.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Amy Sherman • August 28, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Tim Walz stated on August 14, 2024 in a speech in California: Former President Donald Trump “cut overtime benefits for millions of workers.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Amy Sherman • August 20, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Pete Buttigieg stated on August 11, 2024 in an interview on CNN State of the Union: Gov. Tim Walz delivered paid family leave in Minnesota but “Republicans are blocking” a Biden-Harris proposal. ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Amy Sherman • August 16, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on August 8, 2024 in a press conference: Says his Jan. 6, 2021, speech on the White House Ellipse drew the “same number of people,” as the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Louis Jacobson • August 9, 2024 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on August 2, 2024 in a video: In Pompano Beach, Florida, Somali immigrants illegally in the U.S. were in line to get driver’s licenses and “all you need to vote is a driver\'s license.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu • August 7, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on July 27, 2024 in a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota: During the 2020 Minnesota riots after George Floyd’s murder, Gov. Tim Walz didn’t call in the National Guard, “so, I sent in the National Guard to save Minneapolis.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Amy Sherman • August 7, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on August 3, 2024 in a rally in Atlanta: Kamala Harris “supports mandatory gun confiscation.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Amy Sherman • August 7, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on July 24, 2024 in a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina: Kamala Harris “wants to defund the police.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Amy Sherman • July 30, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on July 24, 2024 in a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina: Kamala Harris “supported abolishing ICE.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Amy Sherman • July 29, 2024 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 22, 2024 in an Instagram post: There are nine states “where Biden’s name can’t be removed and no one can be added. That’s over 130 electoral votes in the toilet.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ranjan Jindal • July 23, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on July 17, 2024 in a campaign video: \"Unlike Mike Pence, (JD) Vance said he would have carried out Trump\'s plan to overturn the 2020 election.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Amy Sherman • July 18, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Kari Lake stated on July 16, 2024 in in a speech at RNC in Milwaukee: “Just last week, Ruben Gallego voted to let the millions of people who poured into our country illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Amy Sherman • July 17, 2024 ### Trump did not sign any major immigration laws, but he did issue orders that changed policy * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 8, 2024 in Instagram posts: Immigrants get $2,000 each time they cross the border illegally. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sofia Ahmed • September 12, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on August 30, 2024 in a Facebook post: Video shows tornadoes in Canada. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 12, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 8, 2024 in an Instagram post: Video shows a Ku Klux Klan member at a rally for former President Donald Trump. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 12, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 7, 2024 in a Threads post: Elon Musk said, “Anyone caught promoting propaganda will be suspended from X.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 12, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 9, 2024 in Instagram posts: A Haitian woman was arrested in Springfield, Ohio, for eating a cat. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Sofia Ahmed • September 12, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" X posts stated on September 11, 2024 in una publicación en X: Kamala Harris “descubierta usando unos zarcillos con audífonos inhalambricos, para que le soplaran las respuestas durante el debate contra Donald Trump”. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Maria Briceño • September 12, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 6, 2024 in a Facebook post: “Elon Musk to fund new anti-woke show featuring Tucker Carlson.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 12, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 9, 2024 in a post: Video shows Tim Walz “falsely claims that being gay in Nebraska is ‘illegal’\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Grace Abels • September 11, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on September 10, 2024 in social media posts: Vice President Kamala Harris wore NOVA H1 audio earrings in the Sept. 10, 2024, presidential debate. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Loreben Tuquero • September 11, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on September 10, 2024 in a debate: “As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world, for the first time this century.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Sara Swann • September 11, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. 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Donald Trump never changed one immigration law