As the Trump administration increasingly puts measures in place to limit immigration into the US, including stricter rules on the H-1B visa, a KFF and NYT survey found that more immigrants are now avoiding foreign travel to stay under the radar of American immigration authorities.
Indian Immigrants Confined at Home as per US administration rules
Even naturalized citizens are staying away from travel outside the US. A report from a media outlet focused on Indian-Americans quoted an Indian immigrant saying they were avoiding travel altogether, even with the necessary documents.
The 2025 Survey of Immigrants, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) in partnership with the New York Times, found that 27%, or three in 10, of all US immigrants intentionally stayed home rather than travel within or outside the country to avoid drawing the attention of immigration officials.
Why Migrants Avoid even Domestic Travel?
According to the KFF and NYT survey report, a major reason that immigrants in the US are avoiding long-distance travel is their desire to keep a low profile and not attract attention from immigration authorities. The Transport Safety Administration (TSA), as stated in an NYT report, began sharing data on domestic travel, such as passenger lists, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities.
This is the first time immigration authorities are actively looking into domestic flights, which they largely avoided until December. According to the KFF and NYT report, this marks the latest move by the Trump administration to expand data sharing across federal agencies to support the arrest, detention, and deportation of immigrants who may be in the US illegally.
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