This is one of the most controversial subjects of the American presidential campaign: immigration. What do Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris propose on the subject in the event of accession to the White House? Here are their main proposals on immigration.
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Donald Trump promises ‘largest deportation operation’ in country’s history
Immigration has always been a problem for Donald Trump. He proved it once again during his only debate against his opponent Kamala Harris, on September 10. He declared, in front of millions of television viewers, that « Springfield (city in Ohio)they eat dogs, the people who come (migrants), they eat cats.” This fake news sparked outrage and even led to violence in the city in question. It also demonstrated, if it were still necessary, Donald Trump’s aversion to migrants.
Read also: Migrants eat “cats and dogs”: where does Trump’s fake news come from during the debate?
In his program for the 2024 American presidential election, the billionaire devotes a large chapter to it. With a punchy measure: if elected, the Republican candidate plans “the largest expulsion operation” of the history of the United States. In more detail, he plans to round up undocumented immigrants in camps while awaiting their expulsion from American territory. Donald Trump explained that he would start by targeting certain cities already stigmatized during his campaign, such as Springfield (Ohio) or Aurora (Colorado). In an interview with Time, Donald Trump clarified that this « plan d’expulsion » would affect 15 to 20 million people.
In addition to this “operation”, Donald Trump wants to go even further and wishes to revoke the birthright of children born in the United States to undocumented immigrant parents. But such a decision would be in contradiction with the XIVe amendment to the American Constitution. Its application therefore seems compromised in the event of an election.
Kamala Harris wants immigration deal passed
Vice President Kamala Harris has been widely criticized for her record on immigration over the past four years. Moreover, the Trump clan does not hesitate to regularly touch on this sensitive point. By entrusting him with this file, Joe Biden wanted to get rid of a hot topic. But history did not predict that Kamala Harris would be the Democratic candidate to succeed him.
Even if she is not as radical as Donald Trump, she has no choice but to keep a firm line on the issue. Proof of this is that during her visit to the border with Mexico on Friday September 27, she promised to “enhance security” and of “reform the broken immigration system.”
This requires the adoption of a bipartisan agreement on the subject, desired by Joe Biden. The text was rejected by Congress on May 23, notably by the Republican fringe under the influence of Donald Trump. The deal calls for the hiring of thousands of new border security and asylum officers. It would also allow the border to be closed if crossings reach an average of more than 5,000 migrants per day for a week. Barely had this proposal been formulated, Donald Trump has already called on Republicans to oppose it if Kamala Harris seizes the White House.
The Democratic candidate should also, if elected president, continue the policy pursued by Joe Biden and therefore prohibit asylum requests from most migrants who cross the border illegally. During various speeches and on forums, the 59-year-old prosecutor also mentions the idea of a “deserved path to citizenship”, without giving further details on the criteria that this could generate.
A resumption of construction of the wall on the border with Mexico?
He made it a key argument in 2016, during his presidential campaign. But, when he had to leave his chair as president to Joe Biden in 2020, Donald Trump also had to leave his wall project behind him. This wall which should prevent migrants from crossing the border with Mexico.
If elected, the Republican candidate promises to “secure our southern border by completing the border wall started” during his previous mandate and to use cutting-edge technologies “to monitor and secure it”. Between 2016 and 2020, only 750 km were completed out of the promised 1,600 kilometers, at a colossal cost: $15 billion, none of which was paid by Mexico despite what Donald Trump had promised.
The construction of this wall was stopped abruptly when Joe Biden arrived at the White House. The Democrat even made it a campaign promise. But in fact, the Biden administration found itself obliged to intervene on this wall, in particular to plug certain holes in order to secure it.
Moreover, the project for a wall between Mexico and the United States does not date from Donald Trump. More than 1,000 kilometers of barrier out of the 3,000 that make up the border were built under the mandates of Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
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