2025: The year state laws redraw the U.S. immigration map

Immigration has always been at the center of debate in the United States. However, in 2025, the battleground has shifted to the legal arena, with movements redefining the country’s immigration landscape. This landscape is changing due to the passage and implementation of laws in different states that undoubtedly redefine the legal landscape of immigration policies in the country. 

Well, let’s begin with the overview. From January to July 2025, a total of 38 states passed 106 immigration-related laws. More than just numbers, this implies a shift in priorities and, for millions of people, a new set of rules that will affect everything from access to services to the ability to obtain identification or vote in local elections. 

Is this scenario a continuation of what was already happening in 2024, or are we facing a historic rupture? What issues dominate the agenda? Which states legislate the most on this matter? And, above all, how does all this impact ordinary citizens? In this research, I will attempt to answer these questions. 

 

What’s happening with immigration laws in 2025? 

I reviewed the immigration legislation approved so far in the states, cross-referencing it with information reported by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and analyzing laws already passed or enacted. I identified the following: 2025 is shaping up to be a period focused on immigration enforcement and increased surveillance of undocumented communities. 

At first glance, the legislative volume isn’t record-breaking: 106 laws in seven months, compared to 137 in all of 2024. But change isn’t just measured in quantity, but in direction and intensity. 

In previous years, state immigration legislation was divided between employment, the budget, immigration enforcement, and social benefits. Today, the compass points in a different direction: immigration enforcement, with many approvals, followed by employment and voting. 

Nearly half of the laws passed in 2025 focus on immigration enforcement and immigration control, followed by rules tightening requirements for obtaining work permits and exercising the right to vote. Below, we can see the states, how many and what types of laws they passed in 2025: 

FOCUS ON U.S. LAWS 

 

FOR OR AGAINST: BALANCE OF LAWS

Of the 106 laws approved by August 2025: 

• 54 (51%) can be classified as restrictive or against the migrant population, since they are mainly focused on compliance with immigration law and the tightening of control measures, status verification, and sanctions. 

• 47 (44%) are laws in favor, with measures that protect the population and provide guarantees for employment, shelter, expanding services, labor rights or access to education and health. 

 

2024 vs. 2025: A fundamental change 

2024 vs. 2025

To understand the magnitude of this, we only need to look at the snapshot in 2024: 40 states enacted 137 laws, a considerable volume, but with an approach that sought balance between different fronts. There was room for inclusion and protection, especially in states like California, which expanded social benefits and programs, and New York, where budgets were allocated for education and health care. 

In 2024, the immigration legislative agenda shifted between regulation and inclusion, breaking down as follows: 

• Employment: 34 laws 

• Budget: 16 

• Compliance with the law: 15 

• Public benefits: 14 

• Health: 9 

• Education: 8 

• Identification: 7 

• Voting: 7 

• Others: 27 (including administrative regulations, emergency assistance, data privacy, etc.) 

Without a doubt, 2024 was a year where the message was mixed: control, yes, but accompanied by measures that provided guarantees to those who came to the US in search of opportunities. 

Now, let’s compare it to the current trend that marks 2025. While the total number of bills remains high, the tone has changed radically. 2025 is not a year of taking stock, but rather a year of regulatory tightening, setting a legislative immigration agenda that moves between immigration enforcement, work permit restrictions, and voting, distributed as follows: 

• Law enforcement: 32 laws, of which 9 are in favor and 19 are against. 

• Employment: 13, of which 8 are in favor and 6 are against. 

• Voting: 13, of which 4 are in favor and 8 against. 

• Identification: 10, of which 2 are in favor and 8 are against. 

• Education: 9, of which 6 are in favor and 3 are against. 

• Budget: 8, of which 6 are in favor and 2 against. 

• Health: 4, of which 2 are in favor and 2 are against. 

• Others: 16 (including administrative regulations, emergency assistance, data privacy, etc.), of which 10 are in favor and 6 are against. 

The data analyzed confirms this: there are more laws against (54) than in favor (47), with states concentrating many restrictive initiatives such as: Florida, Texas, Alabama, among others, where immigration law enforcement has been reinforced. Let’s look at the contrast in key states: 

• California: From 16 laws protecting the migrant population in 2024, it fell to just 1 in 2025. 

• Texas: Had zero laws filed in 2024 but now has 4 against it, only in 2025. 

• Florida: went from having 5 laws (3 against and 2 neutral) to 8 in 2025, with a predominance of laws that promote restrictions on the migrant population. 

• Tennessee: Continues to maintain a hard line: 12 laws in 2024, increasing to five in 2025, most of them against or restricting those in the US undocumented. 

• Illinois: This state went from having nine migrant protection laws passed in 2024 to passing one in 2025, when almost no laws were passed in favor of those who come to the United States seeking opportunities. 

 

What does this change mean? 

Some clear trends in the data are the transition from mixed policies to a near-general tightening of policies. 2024 offered windows of inclusion, with laws favoring areas such as education, health, and benefits, while in 2025, the priority shifted to security, control, and verification of immigration status. 

Added to this is the direct impact on migrant communities, as the laws passed in 2025 affect everything from identification and voting to access to basic services and employment. This naturally increases their social vulnerability and creates barriers to their inclusion, consolidating a restrictive trend that has likely not been seen in recent years in the U.S. 

 

What are states regulating? An in-depth look 

Undoubtedly, ranking the 106 laws passed so far in 2025 helps understand where the balance is leaning. What makes the trend clear is that enforcement of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) ranks first, occupying a total of 32 laws passed during the period. It is followed by employment and voting, both with 13 pieces of legislation; identification issues, with 10; and education, budget, and health, with 9, 8, and 4 respectively. 

 

Which states are leading the way in enacting laws across the board? 

Looking at the geography of these laws, the lead is concentrated in states like Florida, Arkansas, Idaho, Utah, and Virginia, which top the list, accounting for nearly 40% of the laws approved by 2025. 

 

Top 10 states with the most immigration laws in 2025: 

TOP 10 STATES WITH THE MOST IMMIGRATION LAWS

Although this article avoids delving into partisan politics, the statistics are clear: 75% of new laws come from Republican-majority states. That’s not just a statistic: it marks a dominant trend. 

While these states are pushing for oversight and verification measures, the few Democratic states that are active in 2025 are focusing on limited programs for access to healthcare and education, but in smaller volumes than in previous years, creating an uneven landscape: depending on the state where they live, an immigrant may face highly restrictive laws or relatively permissive or protective laws. 

 

States with laws in favor

LAWS IN FAVOR IN 2025

The 47 pro-migrant laws are unevenly distributed across categories. The focus was on other with 10 laws, which groups together administrative measures, assistance and various regulations , for example, in Delaware it is It prohibits local agencies from entering into agreements with federal authorities to enforce immigration laws or share data on them, but does allow them to collaborate on public safety issues. 

Immigration enforcement laws continue with 9, where several initiatives seek to adjust immigration processes and others to toughen them, as is the case in Oregon, where landlords are prohibited from asking or inquiring about the immigration status or citizenship of applicants, tenants or members of their household, this protects undocumented tenants from discrimination in access to housing. 

For its part, employment with 8; budget and Education, with 6 each, occupy intermediate positions, reflecting some attention to labor and educational inclusion, while voting registers 4. On the other hand, health and identification barely reach 2 laws each, showing low priority. 

On the state map, support is concentrated in Virginia with five laws, Washington with three, and Colorado, Connecticut, and Montana with three each, while many states have only one law and 17 more have no favorable measures at all. This confirms a picture driven by a more restrictive national trend. 

 

States with laws against 

LAWS AGAINST IN 2025 

The laws against immigrants outnumber those supporting them: there are 54 restrictive laws approved so far in different states of the US compared to 47 in favor. The majority seek more control and less access to rights. 

The areas with the most restrictions or rules imposed are: compliance with immigration law with 19 laws, identification with 8 laws, voting with 8 laws and employment with 6 laws. This means that stricter immigration controls are being imposed, as well as restrictions on work, obtaining documents, and even voting in local elections. For example, in California, a law was enacted stating that if a foreigner enters a U.S. state without permission and evades immigration control, would commit a crime. Furthermore, if that person were to commit a very serious crime, they could be sentenced to the death penalty. 

Another example is the law passed in Florida, which states that a non-U.S. citizen who votes in an election commits a felony. It also creates state boards and programs to strengthen immigration enforcement and provide financial support to local agencies that work with federal authorities. 

The states that stand out the most are Idaho with six anti-immigration laws, followed by Arkansas with five, then Tennessee and Utah with four each. Texas also appears on this map with four anti-immigration laws. In contrast, states like California, New York, and Washington did not pass any anti-immigrant laws through 2025. 

 

The ordinary citizen: amid polarization 

What does all this mean in practice? For immigrants, the situation is more complicated: it’s now more difficult to obtain official identification, there are restrictions on participating in local elections, and there’s greater exposure to police checks. 

If the trend continues, 2025 could close as the year with more restrictive than inclusive laws, which, more than a number, reflects a structural change: immigration policies no longer depend solely on Congress or the White House, but on state legislatures acting on their own agendas. 

 

Laws under scrutiny: the most controversial ones already face lawsuits

LAWS IN LITIGATION 

As an immigration lawyer, I must say that at least eight state laws are being challenged in court by civil organizations and immigrant rights advocates, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).  

What these challenged laws have in common is that they criminalize unlawful presence, expand police powers, and restrict basic rights. Among the most high-profile cases are: 

• Idaho: Leads with three challenged laws, ranging in focus from new criminal regulations for entering without status to barriers to accessing essential public services. 
• Florida: Made it a criminal offense for unauthorized immigrants to enter or re-enter the state, even without other associated offenses. 
• Texas: passed a law allowing the state to arrest and deport migrants, something that has historically been a federal responsibility. 
• New Hampshire: banned sanctuary policies and opened the door for the attorney general to sue local governments that don’t comply. 
• Tennessee: expanded the crime of human trafficking to penalize those who transport or harbor people without legal status. 
• Wyoming: Tightened voting rules, requiring proof of citizenship and 30-day residency, directly impacting migrant communities. 

 

A country divided by its laws 

The snapshot of 2025 reveals a profound shift: the United States has moved from a landscape of mixed policies to a fragmented landscape, where the law defines not only rights but also opportunities. While some states maintain inclusion windows, the dominant trend points to a tightening of the system: more controls, more verifications, and less room for integration. 

Immigration has ceased to be a national debate and has become a state-wide issue, with regulations that can mean refuge in one territory and crime in another. If the current trend isn’t reversed, 2025 will not only be one of the years with the most restrictive laws, but also the point at which immigration regulation ceased to seek balance and instead leaned toward legislative polarization.