The authors of Project 2025 argue that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is in desperate need of reform. The document says the DHS is a “bloated, bureaucratic, and expensive” organization that has failed to meet conservative standards for immigration regulation and has allegedly “suffered from the Left’s wokeness and weaponization against Americans.”

Project 2025 calls for several troubling immigration reforms, including the elimination and limitations of certain visas. Something particularly disturbing is Project 2025’s claim that “victimization should not be a basis for an immigration benefit.” In 2000, Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which offered legal status to undocumented victims of abuse. The authors of Project 2025 argue that the T and U visas created by this act are unnecessary and should be eliminated. They reason that victims of trafficking and similar crimes are “actively and significantly cooperating” with the police and serving as witnesses against their abusers, and, therefore, will already qualify for an S visa. S visas are granted to any immigrant who provides “critical, reliable information” about criminal activity, whereas T and U visas are specific to victims of abuse.

There are several problems with this proposed change. For starters, S visas are capped by Congress at 200 granted per fiscal year, significantly limiting the number of trafficking victims who would be eligible for legal status. It is also unclear what exactly counts as “critical, reliable information,” making the acceptance for an S visa extremely subjective compared to that of T and U visas.

Project 2025 also urges the next conservative president to “prioritize national security” in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. The authors argue U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must take control back from educational institutions to reduce the number of visas given to students from “enemy nations,” which are not defined in the document.

These reforms would unfairly reject international students based solely on their nationality, and the proposed visa reforms immorally strip away legal protections from human trafficking victims. These policies undermine the United States’ most basic and founding values of freedom and justice “for all.”