Immigration is one of the most important political issues in the US presidential elections scheduled for next November. According to polls, voters consider this issue to be the third most important issue after protecting the economy and democracy. Illegal immigration reached historic levels before President Biden issued an executive order in June 2024 that helped reduce border crossings for three straight months.
The two presidential candidates, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, disagree on immigration policy most This issue, even when discussing it, they use a completely different rhetoric.
As president, Trump has implemented a comprehensive agenda to reduce illegal immigration. The federal government used all its powers, including diplomatic pressure and coercion, to implement this agenda. He promised that, if re-elected, he would “end all open border policies of the Biden administration.” The Madrid-based company said it also pledged to “reverse all of its previous actions” and take further steps, some of which are likely to cross the bounds of US law. Royal Elcano Institute for International and Strategic Studies.
Harris condemned many of the Trump administration's immigration actions, but supported President Biden's decisions to roll back some of them. This included restrictions on asylum seekers as illegal border crossings reached record levels. He tried to address the root causes of migration by launching private financing for development projects in Latin America.
As president, Trump has implemented sweeping anti-immigration policies, including separating immigrant children from their parents. He says if re-elected he will deport millions of illegal immigrants en masse.
Harris will also act hard
Harris recently took a relatively hard line on immigration, reiterating his support for a bipartisan proposal that would bring thousands of new border security agents and asylum officials to work and close the border if an average of more than 5,000 migrants cross it daily for a year. Week – writes A New York Times.
The deal died in Congress after Trump moved against it, but Harris pledged to work to pass it if she is elected president. He also indicated he would maintain the policy Biden established by executive order this year that bars most undocumented immigrants from applying for asylum.
He took a different approach to the issue in his first presidential campaign in 2019, arguing that unauthorized entry into the United States should not be a crime and calling for a review of the role of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That year, decriminalizing border crossing was a popular position among candidates in the Democratic presidential primary. After becoming vice president, he changed his mind and told CNN in August of this year
There are laws that must be followed and implemented. There must be a result.
However, the Democratic nominee still officially supports the program launched during Barack Obama's presidency Deferred Action for those who arrived as children (DACA), a program that protects those who came to the United States illegally as children from deportation. Since the Supreme Court, which also serves as the U.S. Constitutional Court, ruled against the program, Harris in June urged Congress to pass a law that would permanently protect the recipients — known colloquially as “Dreamers.”
Donald Trump talks about immigrants who eat dogs
If re-elected, Trump will carry out the largest deportation campaign in American history – or so his campaign claims.
He plans to arrest illegal immigrants and detain them in camps until they are deported. In expulsion proceedings, the persons against whom such proceedings have been initiated will not have the right to be heard. Local police and National Guard forces in Republican-led states will be tasked with carrying out the raids. He told a crowd in September that deporting some immigrants would be a “bloody story.”
In September, he suggested he would first target specific cities whose immigrant populations had been demonized by his campaign, including Springfield, Ohio — where most immigrants live legally, and which he claimed in his presidential debate eat locals' dogs and cats — and Aurora, Columbia.
Trump told Time magazine in April that his goal was comprehensive will Between 15 and 20 million people could be deported, a number equivalent to the population of New York State.
In the same interview, he also talked about deploying the military against immigrants in states along the border and beyond — arguing that a law prohibiting the use of the military in domestic law enforcement would be unenforceable because they illegally enter the United States. “Non-citizen” countries.
He also wants to eliminate the birthright of citizenship for children of illegal immigrants born in the United States, guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.
What about asylum seekers?
Harris supported an executive order issued by President Biden in June that would have closed the border to asylum seekers if the seven-day average of illegal entries reached 2,500 per day. It is the hardest immigration policy step any modern Democratic president has taken. It is similar to Trump's 2018 directive that was blocked by a federal judge, and faces a similar legal challenge.
The vice president wants to revive the bipartisan border security agreement reached earlier this year, which would have made it more difficult to apply for asylum. However, it will provide protection for some applicants, including unaccompanied children aged 13 or younger.
The Trump administration forced asylum seekers to remain in Mexico until their hearings. This measure led to the creation of miserable refugee camps along the border. He said that if he is re-elected, he wants to restore that policy.
In 2018, it suspended asylum for people who entered the country illegally. The measure was blocked from taking effect by a federal judge.
His administration used the coronavirus outbreak to create a legal basis to bar asylum seekers from entering the United States, something it had not been able to do before. The public health emergency measure he cited, the notorious Section 42, allowed the government to quickly deport illegal immigrants who cross the border.
