Joshua Arnold – WashingtonSTand.com
A White House social media post from Tuesday is stirring up reactions both for and against the Trump administration’s policies for reducing legal immigration. “Legal Immigration from Majority-Muslim Nations Was Cut 96% Since 2024” posted the X account “Rapid Response 47.” It included a graph produced by the CATO Institute showing precipitous declines in or about January 2025 and January 2026.
The X post generated opposite reactions. The pro-immigration researcher from the CATO Institute celebrated the visibility of his work but argued that the Trump administration’s policy was illegal. Meanwhile, another X user cheered, “I voted for this — and will again.”
Prudence directs us to adopt a more considered reaction not easily reducible to a soundbite in either direction. For starters, the language of “Majority-Muslim Nations” is problematic and muddy, and the White House communications team was ill-advised to accept CATO’s framing of the issue.
The instinct behind the White House’s desire to celebrate this trend is obvious: radical Islamist terror remains a threat to America, and defending the homeland is a much easier task if the federal government does not create an easy way for the “bad guys” to come over here.