8 U.S.C. 1182(f): Critical Power for POTUS to Protect Americans from Mass Immigration

Fact Sheet - Thursday, July 17, 2025

The Basics:

• 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) provides the President authority “to suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens” when it is determined that their entry would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. 
• Prior to 1182(f)’s passage in 1952, predecessor legislation in 1918 and 1941 provided presidents with the power to bar entry for aliens considered threats to public safety in times of war.
• Notably, the 1918 law also allowed the President to suspend DEPARTURES as well as entries. President Wilson used that authority to bar American citizens from departing unless they could prove they were not leaving to hurt the country. 
• President Franklin Roosevelt also invoked the 1941 authority.

• Debate around 1182(f) included discussion of limiting the authority to times of war, but others argued for broad discretion and power in case of situations like an epidemic requiring swift, comprehensive action.

• The Supreme Court has interpreted the 1182(f) language to provide broad authority to the Office of the President. 
• In the 1993 decision Sale v. Haitian Centers Council, Inc., the Court upheld Executive Order 12,807, which was based on the authority under Section 1182(f).
• In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s use of 1182(f) to ban travel from certain countries in Trump v. Hawaii. 
• President Trump issued a proclamation under 1182(f) on June 4, 2025, to restrict the entry of nationals of certain countries who may present a threat to the United States. 

ADMINISTRATIVE RECOMMENDATION: The President should invoke 1182(f) to bar nonimmigrant employment-based entries on H-1B, H-2B, L, and TN visas on the grounds that these admissions harm American workers and suppress wages. Clearly, the “interests of the United States” means, first and foremost, the interests of American workers, and mass immigration undeniably harms those interests.