Card #2: Immigration Facts

Immigration and the Southern Border
Biden-Harris Team

(Statements released by whitehouse.gov. Feb 2, 2024, edited for brevity)

On day one of our Administration (Jan 21, 2021) we sent a comprehensive immigration reform bill to Congress that included an increase in funding for border security and a pathway to citizenship for immigrants, such as Dreamers who have been here for years. We have partnered with countries in the Western Hemisphere to address global pressures that are forcing people from their homes. At each step, we have been clear: Congress must act. Unfortunately, we have too often been met with those who sought to play political games instead of participating in solutions.

The Biden-Harris Administration strongly supports the bipartisan agreement announced in the Senate that addresses many pressing national security issues including:

• Providing temporary emergency authority for the president to shut down the border when the system is overwhelmed
• Establishing an efficient and fair process for consideration of asylum and other protection claims by those arriving at our southwest border
• Providing critical funding for combatting smuggling and drug trafficking, border security, and asylum processing
• Increasing legal pathways to come to the United States
• Per the Congressional Budget Office, immigrants are expected to expand our economy by $7 trillion in ten years and pay $1 trillion in taxes. 

What’s at Stake for You in Election 2024?

Immigration and the Southern Border Mr. Trump

(Statements made by the candidate Nov 2023, edited for brevity)

Former President Donald Trump has outlined a radical shift in U.S. immigration policy if he’s elected president again in 2024, vowing to implement unprecedented measures targeting both legal and unauthorized immigrants, including massive deportations.

He plans to scour the country for unauthorized immigrants and deport people by the millions per year.

To help Immigration and Customs Enforcement carry out sweeping raids, he plans to reassign other federal agents and deputize local police officers and National Guard soldiers voluntarily contributed by Republican-run states. He vows to end birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants living in the country unlawfully, deputize the National Guard to carry out mass deportations and deny entry to legal immigrants based on their ideological beliefs. In one recent interview, Trump suggested that some migrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.”

To ease the strain on ICE detention facilities, Mr. Trump wants to build huge camps to detain people while their cases are processed and they await deportation flights. And to get around any refusal by Congress to appropriate the necessary funds, Mr. Trump would redirect money in the military budget, as he did in his first term to spend more on a border wall than Congress had authorized.