When President Donald Trump was running for reelection, foreign-born US residents were rushing to get their American citizenship before it might be too late. “I didn´t know what would happen if Trump got a second term,” said Victoria Abramowska, who became a citizen in Maine this fall, “after all the crazy things he did already.” Her fears weren´t unfounded. The Trump administration was more hostile to immigration and immigrants than any administration in decades, making it harder for people to visit, live or work in the United States and seeking to reduce the number illegally entering the country. Many of the administration’s immigration actions can be quickly undone by Joe Biden when he becomes president on Jan. 20. Yet Trump´s legacy on immigration won´t be easily erased. People were denied the opportunity to apply for asylum and returned to dangerous conditions at home. Children were traumatized by being separated from their families. Trump’s signature border wall went up in environmentally sensitive areas. “The damage inflicted in the meantime on people of all stripes – legal immigrants, undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers and more – will not be so quickly reversed and in some cases can´t be reversed,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council. “There are people who died because of Trump immigration policies.” Perhaps the most counterintuitive legacy of Trump´s immigration crackdown is an apparently unintended one: a surge in foreign residents like Abramowska who rushed to become citizens because they feared the consequences of the crackdown.