One of the key issues for voters in the November 2024 presidential elections is immigration. After the economy and democracy, it comes in third place. This change in focus happened due to the increasing number of irregular migrants. This increment led to President Biden taking action in June 2024. He issued an order to reduce the number of people crossing the border in recent months. 

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both have different opinions about immigration. During the Trump era, he followed strict rules to limit both legal and illegal immigration. If Trump wins the election again, he’ll undo Biden’s change first. Trump has a plan to start a large deportation effort on his first day back in office. According to him, in US history, this will be the biggest deportation. 

However, this strategy of Donald Trump would face many complexities and legal challenges. According to the latest research, the nation’s economy is hurt due to mass deportations. It discusses industries that heavily depend on immigrant workers,  and upset the public due to the treatment of families and long-time residents.

Trump’s strict immigration rules

Donald Trump promised to build a wall at the US-Mexico border in his 2016 campaign. Now in 2024, he wants ‌people to again follow‌ strict immigration rules. Zero Tolerance is included in one of these rules. It separated the families at the border in 2018. Parents faced criminal charges, and their children were taken away from them. 

According to Trump, this tough approach would stop families from making efforts to cross the border. But this strategy caused a lot of suffering. Many parents are still not getting back their children. If Trump is re-elected, he will again start the three other strict programs. These programs make it harder for people seeking asylum to enter the US.

These include sending some immigrants back to Mexico while they wait for their cases to be decided and moving others to Central America. He might use a health rule to quickly send immigrants away. These plans will likely face strong criticism and legal challenges, just like before.

Trump will again implement the travel ban for people of different nations, which he calls terror plagues. In 2017, he started this ban that affects major Muslim nations. According to Trump, in 2024, the new ban will be bigger and stronger. Legal challenges probably won’t work because his team has a plan from his first term. However, according to the latest research, this ban will never stop terrorism entirely. It hurts America’s relations with its allies that help the US ‌fight against terrorism. 

Trump wants to stop birthright citizenship for kids born in the US to undocumented immigrants. He plans to sign an order to take away their passports and benefits. The 14th Amendment gives these kids citizenship, so he would need a Supreme Court ruling or a change to the Constitution. This seems unlikely because not many people support it.

While Kamala Harris is supporting the Biden strategies and plan. She supports Joe Biden more and moves away from some of her previous liberal views.

Kamala Harris and immigration issues

In July, Kamala Harris joined the presidential race. It was a time when President Joe Biden was 35 points behind Donald Trump on immigration issues. This may be one of the reasons that her immigration plans are unclear. Additionally, she tried to appear as a centrist candidate focused on real solutions. Since then, she has improved a bit but still trails Trump by 21 points. 

In the September debate, she shed light on her experience as California’s Attorney General. She worked on different crimes like drug and human trafficking. She promised to follow the bipartisan immigration bill. It has aimed to hire more border patrol agents and asylum officers. This bill allows presidents to close their borders in certain situations. Harris opposes Trump for telling Republican lawmakers to reject the bill. According to Harris, Trump wants Biden to lose on immigration. This shows how important immigration is in the campaign and how it affects candidates’ plans.

If elected, she will likely support increased investments in Central America to tackle migration causes and expand legal immigration options. Both candidates agree on enhancing border security and reforming the asylum system, reflecting public sentiment favoring reduced immigration. This may lead to potential bipartisan cooperation on meaningful immigration reform.