Nicole Hallett, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School and director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, says she believes the policy is designed to discourage people from immigrating legally. “I think it’s exactly what the administration wants,” she says. “They want people to decide not to come.”

Hallett says the visa pause should not be viewed in isolation, but as part of a wider set of actions aimed at narrowing legal pathways into the country. “What the administration is doing now is the opposite, which is illegalizing lawful immigrants,” she says.

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