How the US shut the door on asylum-seekers

Asylum-seekers gather outside a US customs office in Tijuana, Mexico, shortly after President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2025. | Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

When he first emerged on the political stage more than a decade ago, Donald Trump made closing America’s borders and remaking our immigration system a central plank of his agenda. 

A year into his second administration — and as this week’s events in Minneapolis underscore — the issue has defined...