Updated September 18, 2024
How do the 2024 presidential candidates compare on immigration issues?
Only 23% of Americans believe the government is doing a good job handling the influx of migrants seeking asylum at the border. Generally, Republicans and Democrats both agree that increased staffing is important at the border, though Republicans are stronger in this belief.
Similarly, both parties believe that the government should require people to apply for asylum before migrating to the U.S. However, Democrats are more likely to support increased aid to Central American countries and advocate for more sanitary conditions for asylum seekers. Republicans, on the other hand, generally believe that it should be harder for asylum seekers to be granted legal status with 52% believing it is “very important to require people seeking asylum in the U.S. to apply before they travel to the border.”
Subissues:
- Authorized/Unauthorized Entry
- Visas
- Asylum Seekers
- Refugee Caps
- The Border Wall
- Sanctuary Cities
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
- Citizenship
Authorized/Unauthorized Entry
Kamala Harris (D): Supports addressing the root causes of unauthorized entry.
President Joe Biden asked Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the administration’s efforts to address the root causes of immigration from Mexico and the Northern Triangle Countries, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, in 2021. Harris said she planned to decrease immigration by supporting efforts to improve difficult living conditions in Central America, as many migrants are “fleeing some harm or they cannot stay and satisfy the basic necessities of life.”
In alignment with her Root Causes Strategy, she worked with Central American leaders and the UN to provide humanitarian relief, increase economic and educational opportunities, expand border security and reduce drug and weapons smuggling and corruption. Harris met with the president of Mexico and signed a memorandum of understanding to expand economic opportunities in Central America.
The Biden-Harris administration ended Title 42, a COVID-19 public health policy that allowed border patrol agents to expel unauthorized migrants before they could apply for asylum, in 2023. The Biden-Harris administration also ended the Trump era Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which mandated that asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their cases were processed. The Biden-Harris administration issued an executive order to temporarily pause asylum claims when daily border crossings exceed 2,500 migrants.
The White House increased the refugee cap, initially from 15,000 to 62,500 in 2021, to 125,000 in 2024.
Donald Trump (R): Advocates for limiting legal immigration and visas and expanding efforts to remove unauthorized migrants.
Donald Trump supports limits on legal immigration and visas, and raising visa fees to fund the border wall. He opposes the H-1B visa program which allows companies to employ foreign workers in specialized industries. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Trump invoked Title 42, which is a public health measure that allows US authorities to remove unauthorized migrants quickly. As president, he banned travelers from majority-Muslim countries for 90 days via an executive order. He also slashed the State Department’s refugee resettlement program, limiting the yearly refugee admissions cap to 15,000.
Cornel West (Ind.): Supports asylum.
Cornel West supports asylum laws to ensure that “those who flee persecution, violence, and despair are met not with barriers and hostility but with fairness, transparency, and an opportunity to find safety and hope within our borders,” according to his campaign website. He advocates for making the visa process “more accessible and efficient.”
Chase Oliver (Lib.): Advocates for a “modern Ellis Island” immigration process.
Chase Oliver says if elected he will collaborate with congress to return to an “Ellis Island style of processing immigrants.” Oliver has advocated for abolishing ICE and ending “arbitrary caps” on the number of immigrants granted visas.
For the immigrants who are already working in the United States, Oliver advocates “formalizing this arrangement” so they can continue to “contribute to the economy by meeting critical labor demands” and save “taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement costs.” Oliver advocates for expanding H1B and startup visas, citing the statistic, “Fifty-five percent of American startups that are valued at over one billion dollars were founded or co-founded by immigrants.”
Jill Stein (G): Advocates for a complete overhaul of the immigration system.
Jill Stein advocates for a complete overhaul of the U.S. immigration system including replacing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with an “Office of Citizenship, Refugees, and Immigration Services.” Under the Department of Labor, this office would provide immigrants with resources for housing, work and healthcare upon arrival.
Stein’s other proposed changes include more funding for immigration courts, more asylum officers, ensuring due process and constitutional protections for unauthorized immigrants, and civil service protection for all immigration judges.
Stein also says she will “vastly reduce the tide of migration by ending the crises driving people to migrate in the first place.” Specifically Stein mentions ending U.S. military intervention and economic sanctions; legalizing marijuana and ending the War on Drugs to “undercut drug cartels”; and implementing the Green New Deal to reduce immigration due to climate-related disasters.
The Border Wall
Kamala Harris (D): Supports increased border security but has changed stances on the wall.
In the early 2010s, Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly toured the U.S.-Mexico border and a drug smuggling tunnel in Mexico; built relationships with Central American leaders; and led a delegation of state attorney generals to Mexico to discuss joint efforts to increase border security and fight transnational crime, while serving as attorney general of California.
During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris described the border wall as “a waste of money” and “ridiculous” because she did not believe it effectively prevented border crossings and transnational crime. However, she said she was “all for increased border security” like drones and cameras.
President Joe Biden and Harris’ administration ended the national emergency at the Southern Border declared during the Trump administration on the first day of their term. Biden wrote that “no more American taxpayer dollars [would] be diverted to construct a border wall” during his term. The Department of Defense administration canceled all border wall projects that were paid for with military funding in June 2021, but the Biden-Harris administration resumed construction on a section of the border wall in Texas in 2023. The Biden-Harris administration requested supplemental funding for additional border patrol staff, immigration judge teams and detection systems in 2023.
At the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC), Harris promised to sign the "bipartisan" border security bill, which includes funding for the border wall.
Donald Trump (R): Supports the completion of the wall and increasing security efforts at the border.
Donald Trump has pledged to finish building a wall at the southern border. During his presidency, a quarter of the border was walled off. If elected, Trump wants to “seal the border” and said that he will order a “massive increase” in border patrol agents to tighten surveillance at the border. Additionally, Trump wants to move “thousands of Troops currently stationed overseas,” to the Southern border, and deploy the U.S. Navy to help secure the border.
Cornel West (Ind.): Advocates for “demilitarizing” the border and treating migrants humanely.
Cornel West advocates for humane treatment of unauthorized migrants and for recognizing that “every person who arrives at our borders is a member of the human family and deserves compassion and dignity,” according to his campaign website. West opposes the separation of families at the border. He also wishes to abolish ICE and to demilitarize the border to “embrace a new paradigm of immigration enforcement—one that is humane, just, and reflective of our core values as a nation.”
Chase Oliver (Lib.): Against completing the wall.
Chase Oliver has advocated against building a physical border wall, and he has stated that he opposes the use of eminent domain to build the wall. To reduce violence at the border, Oliver says he will “end the profits of drug cartels” by “ending the war on drugs.”
Jill Stein (G)
No specific stance from Jill Stein was found; however, the Green Party opposes the completion of the border wall and released a statement condemning the “Trump Wall of Shame” in 2017.
Sanctuary Cities
Sanctuary cities are cities that limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
Kamala Harris (D): Supports sanctuary cities.
Vice President Kamala Harris, then serving as District Attorney of San Francisco, said she supported San Francisco's status as a sanctuary city in 2006 because unauthorized immigrants were more likely to share information about crimes if they did not fear being charged for their citizenship status.
Harris sent a bulletin to California law enforcement in 2014 to clarify their responsibilities under the TRUST Act, which states that unauthorized migrants must commit severe crimes or be federally charged for local law enforcement to hold them in continued detention for ICE. In the bulletin, Harris wrote that law enforcement are not obligated to fulfill ICE detained requests, as “When local law enforcement officials are seen as de facto immigration enforcers, it erodes the trust between our peace officers and the communities they serve.”
Harris sent a letter to senators in 2014 opposing the Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act, which could have withheld funding from law enforcement agencies that follow the TRUST Act. Harris wrote that “Criminal justice policy should not be conflated with national immigration policy.”
Donald Trump (R): Opposes sanctuary cities.
Former President Donald Trump has called to cut federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions. As president, he signed an executive order to limit and prohibit certain federal funding to sanctuary cities. It promised to “ensure that jurisdictions that fail to comply with applicable Federal law do not receive Federal funds."
Cornel West (Ind.)
No specific stance from Cornel West was found.
Chase Oliver (Lib.): Opposes federal funding for sanctuary cities but does not blame people for “sidestepping a broken system.”
Chase Oliver tweeted in September 2023: “Want less undocumented crossing of the border? Then reform the broken immigration system. Until we do, I can't blame folks for sidestepping a broken system from a corrupt government. Immigrants are a net positive plain and simple.”
The Libertarian Party opposes funding for Sanctuary Cities, stating in their platform, “To the extent possible, we advocate that all public services be funded in a voluntary manner.”
Jill Stein (G)
No specific stance from Jill Stein was found; however, in a press release from 2017, the Green Party stated, “We need more sanctuary cit[i]es and more public officials refusing to cooperate.”
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Kamala Harris (D): Advocates for bolstering DACA.
In her first address as a senator, Vice President Kamala Harris said that separating migrant children protected under DACA from their parents is “inhumane and contrary to who we are and the values we hold as Americans” and “the United States of America cannot go back on our promise to these kids and their families.” Harris was the first Senate Democrat to publicly declare that she would not support any government funding bill unless it included protections for DACA recipients.
Harris released a plan during her 2020 presidential campaign to expand DACA and provide a path to citizenship for DACA recipients.
In January 2021, the Biden-Harris administration released a Presidential Memorandum calling on the Department of Homeland Security to “take all appropriate actions under the law” to “preserve and fortify DACA.” Harris called on Congress to pass legislation to give a path to citizenship for DACA recipients, including the American Dream and Promise Act in 2021 and 2023.
Donald Trump (R): Against DACA.
Former President Donald Trump called for “an orderly transition and wind-down of DACA, one that provides minimum disruption.” He released a statement in 2017 on rescinding DACA, stating, “I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are [a] nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.”
He planned to give Congress a delay to come up with a “permanent legislative solution,” arguing that DACA recipients, of which there are now approximately over 500,000, would unfairly use healthcare that would otherwise be granted to American citizens. Trump has also suggested that “anchor babies” are not covered by the Fourteenth Amendment and that parents should come into the U.S. legally in order to be granted government services.
Trump assured in the 2017 statement that he “advised the Department of Homeland Security that DACA recipients are not enforcement priorities unless they are criminals, are involved in criminal activity, or are members of a gang.”
In 2020, the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s efforts to end DACA.
Cornel West (Ind.)
No specific stance from Cornel West was found.
Chase Oliver (Lib.): Supports DACA.
Chase Oliver advocates for a “path to citizenship for both DACA-eligible residents and the children of foreign workers admitted to the US on temporary work visas.”
Jill Stein (G): Supports DACA.
Jill Stein supports DACA, and seeks to update the registration date of the 1929 Registry Act to 1/1/2022, and restore Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act allowing people who have approved petitions to apply for their Green Card upon payment of a fine for the filing fee.
In 2017 the Green Party condemned “Trump’s cancellation of DACA” and endorsed “amnesty and a quick path to U.S. citizenship for undocumented immigrants.”
Citizenship
Kamala Harris (D): Supports path to citizenship for unauthorized migrants.
During Vice President Kamala Harris’ first speech as senator, she said: “I know what a crime looks like, and I will tell you: an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal. … the vast majority of immigrants are hardworking people who deserve a pathway to citizenship.”
Harris advocated for a “meaningful pathway to citizenship” as a solution to the border crisis in a January interview.
Donald Trump (R) Supports a legal and circumstantial pathway to citizenship.
Former President Donald Trump said he wants to provide a pathway for noncitizens who graduate from U.S. colleges to get green cards, after undergoing an “aggressive vetting process.”
Trump tried to end birthright citizenship for children of unauthorized immigrants via an executive order, and he recently stated that he aims to end birthright citizenship if elected. He once proposed a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized youth immigrants; this was done in exchange for tighter restrictions on legal immigration and greater funding for border security.
Cornel West (Ind.): Supports a legal pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants.
Cornel West supports creating a legal pathway to residency for unauthorized immigrants, as “by making the processes for obtaining citizenship, permanent residency, and work visas more accessible and efficient, we honor the aspirations of immigrants and enrich our nation with their contributions, creativity, and resilience.”
Chase Oliver (Lib.): Supports a legal pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants.
Chase Oliver’s campaign team described the current immigration system as “cruel” in a June statement. Oliver’s platform advocates for an immigration system that makes it easy to allow peaceful people to enter the country, including a “path to citizenship for both DACA-eligible residents and the children of foreign workers admitted to the US on temporary work visas.”
Jill Stein (G): Supports a legal pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants.
Jill Stein supports amnesty for every unauthorized immigrant in the U.S., and says as president she would implement an expedient path to citizenship.
This blog was originally written by Harry Ding, Content Intern (Center bias). It was updated by Olivia Geno, News and Bias Assistant (Lean Right bias); Kai Lincke, Content Intern (Lean Left bias); Malayna J. Bizier, News Analyst and Social Media Editor (Right bias); and Krystal Woodworth, Growth Specialist and Executive Assistant (Center bias). It was reviewed and edited by Henry A. Brechter, Editor-in-chief (Center bias); Joseph Ratliff, Content Designer and News Editor (Lean Left bias); and Malayna J. Bizier, News Analyst and Social Media Editor (Right bias).
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