Introduction
Immigration involves the global movement of individuals to a destination nation, of which they are not typical residents or have no nationality. It is generally regarded as in the national interest because it allows people to better themselves and reinforces the United States (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). This essay explores immigration as a topic of interest concerning the current political landscape in the United States.
Immigration in the US
Immigrants have been the most significant beneficiaries of the civil rights movement because laws were designed to eradicate racial discrimination against African Americans. It helped to open up new legal and political spaces for immigrant minorities, establishing the stage for the largest and fourth wave of immigration in the US. Historically, the immigration process has been important to states in terms of economic, social, and cultural factors (Alesina and Tabellini 2). The modern era of globalization has a trend toward greater economic integration, opening new cross-border employment opportunities.
However, immigration in the US has taken center stage in debates over the country’s security dilemma. Specifically, immigration contributes to religious and ethnic fractionalization, which can encourage social strife while increasing the possibility of violent conflicts (Alesina and Tabellini 4). From colonial times through the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Roaring Twenties, and modern times, radical swings in their immigration policy reveal their links to earlier policies and debates.
Most of the discussions keep recurring, while the Biden administration attempts to eliminate some of the immigration restrictions imposed by Donald J. Truthe mp, former president (Baxter and Nowrasteh). The legal governance under which people immigrate has transformed radically over time, and the politics surrounding those changes have remained contentious, with past policies informing the current political debate.
Views of Democratic Candidate Biden on Immigration
During Joe Biden’s campaign for his first term as president, he vowed to reverse the immigration policies of former President Donald Trump. Particularly articulating frustration with the policy that sets limits on the number of asylum seekers accepted daily at its southern border (Shear). He has supported a Senate proposal this year that would set restrictions on daily border crossings.
The Democrats, on the other hand, plan to campaign for his re-election by stressing that Republicans are responsible for the collapse of the deal. Biden’s rhetorical shift risks straining his support among immigrants and their advocates who campaigned for him in 2020 (Licon and Cooper). Even though it seems to be working for Democrats after they won the special election in New York.
Further, Biden has backed the bipartisan Border Security Act in the Senate, which could have provided billions in additional security funding and enabled the closure of the US-Mexico border. Trump pressured his republican lawmakers to refute the deal on border security, leading to its failure to be passed in the US Congress. Biden asserts that he introduced a detailed plan to address the immigration system, secure the border, and offer a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and their families, as well as essential workers (Gypson).
They assisted the US through the pandemic to be part of their community. Biden’s administration reversed certain of Trump’s policies, such as the use of Title 42 and the removal of the “Remain in Mexico” program (García and Rubin). He has asked Trump to push Congress to pass significant immigration legislation rather than telling his Congressional members to block it.
Views of Republican Candidate Trump on Immigration
During a campaign trail conducted by Trump in his bid for president in the US, he pledged to carry out the largest deportations in the country’s history. He intends to change massive parts of federal law enforcement to the enforcement of immigration, while terminating the visas of Hamas sympathizers on college campuses. On the campaign website, he has claimed that in collaborative states, Trump will deputize the local law enforcement and National Guard to help with quickly eliminating illegal alien members of gangs and criminals (Garsd).
Further, Trump has pledged to implement a merit-based immigration system that promotes American values while protecting American labor. During Trump’s presidency, he issued an executive order that suspended entry into the US for everybody emanating from Libya, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria, and indefinitely for refugees from Syria. He began construction of the wall along the US-Mexico border (Gypson). Thus, Trump has divergent views on immigration compared to Biden.
Furthermore, Trump’s message concerning immigration is alarming and could be resonating beyond his political base. In his online posts and speeches, he has spearheaded his anti-immigrant messages in a bid to seek a third attempt to enter the White House. Trump castigates migrants as dangerous criminals in the US and accuses the national fault lines of national and racial identity. Despite his messaging mostly relying on falsehoods concerning migration, it resonates with a majority of his key supporters (Weissert and Colvin).
Trump noted that some immigrants were sub-human following the alleged murder of a nursing student from Georgia by a Venezuelan immigrant. Trump has accused the current president, Biden, of objectively permitting criminals, along with potential terrorists, to enter the US unchecked. Trump’s campaigns, along with his external group, are using images showing mass migrants in the US and employing ads to attack immigration records (Scherer and Wells). Therefore, Trump is blaming the migrants for most of the criminal activities happening in the country.
My Thoughts on the Similarities and Differences Between the Candidates
I believe both candidates, Biden and Trump, have revealed through their speeches and posts that immigration is a crisis that needs to be addressed. They have sought to manage the number of immigrants, alleging that through policies, they can control border security. Thus, they have made immigration the key issue in their campaigns for the November 2024 election.
Biden’s immigration policy is seen as a carrot-and-stick approach. Biden champions punishing migrants who are entering the US illegally while encouraging people to apply to enter the country legally. Thus, he supports the passage of the border security bill to implement key immigration policies that recognize immigrants as a benefit and require them to follow due process to be legally in the US.
On the contrary, I consider Trump to be associating immigration with a crisis that needs urgent measures to curb the increasing influx of criminals and terrorists in the form of immigrants in the US. I believe he is harsh on them and could use any means to eradicate immigrants from the country to have border protections. I think Trump will automatically consider people to be ineligible for asylum seeking in the US.
Conclusion
Immigration in the US has become a contentious issue, as discussed in the political campaigns of the two key candidates, Biden and Trump. The leaders appear to agree that it is a grave issue, but they differ on control measures. Trump sees asylum seekers as undeserving in the US, while Biden asserts that US laws permit it at the border, and there are exceptions for those seeking asylum.
Works Cited
Alesina, Alberto, and Marco Tabellini. “The Political Effects of Immigration: Culture or Economics?” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2022.
Baxter, Andrew M. and Alex Nowrasteh, “A Brief History of U.S. Immigration Policy from the Colonial Period to the Present Day.” Cato.org, 2021.
García, Uriel J., and Madaleine Rubin. “In Two Texas Border Towns, Biden and Trump Push for Different Immigration Approaches.” The Texas Tribune, 2024.
Garsd, Jasmine. “Where the Republican Presidential Candidates Stand on Immigration.” NPR, 2023.
Gypson, Katherine. “Biden, Trump Hold Different Views on Key Domestic Policy Issues.” Voice of America, 2024.
Licon, Adriana G., and Jonathan J. Cooper. “Biden’s Rightward Shift on Immigration Angers Advocates. But It’s Resonating with Many Democrats.” AP News, 2024.
Scherer, Michael, and Dylan Wells. “Immigration fear heats up Trump-Haley clash, dominates GOP ad spending.” The Washington Post, 2024.
Shear, Michael D. “Biden Tries to Flip the Politics of Immigration.” 2024.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “Working in the United States | USCIS.” 2020.
Weissert, Will, and Jill Colvin. “Why Trump’s Alarmist Message on Immigration May Be Resonating Beyond His Base.” AP News, 2024.