Purely anecdotal, but I’ve done some research. I will admit that it’s not as drastic as reports indicate. Between FY2016 and FY2018, there was a 27.38% increase in immigration form denials, despite there being a 0.87% reduction in the number of forms submitted. There was a 7.79% increase in approved forms, but it’s considerably out-paced by the denial increase. This matches claims from certain studies. However, I did some more digging and didn’t just look at 2016 and 2018. Adding up the numbers for 2015 and 2016, and comparing them to the numbers from both 2017 and 2018, we get a more normal picture.
From 2017-2018 to 2015-2016, the current administration approved 5.28% fewer applications than Obama, and denied 3.38% more. However, 2017-2018 saw a 9.99% increase in the total number of applications. So Trump actually denied 13.7% more applications, but also approved 4.18% more too.
Overall, the Trump administration has increased the percentage of denials, but not as drastically as claimed. So I stand corrected, to some extent.
You can find this USCIS data easily with “number of service-wide forms”. Someone with more time than me could also analyze if specific categories (like employment-based or family-based) have seen more of an increase in denials.
Caveat, each year is analyzed up to the 3rd quarter due to FY18 Q4 being not yet released.