The Biden-Harris Administration's policies on immigration are centered around creating a more inclusive and humane immigration system. The GOP views it as harmful and establishes a 21st-century immigration system that reflects American values, enhances the economy, and promotes global competitiveness. Democrats place greater importance on paths to legal status for those who entered the country illegally – especially those who entered as children, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans (80 percent vs. 37 percent) to say that establishing a way for most immigrants currently in the country illegally to stay in the U.S. legally is an important goal for the nation’s immigration system. About four in ten Democrats (38%) view this as a very important goal, compared with 10% of Republicans.
Among Democrats, conservatives and moderates are more likely than liberals to say more restrictive goals are very or somewhat important to U.S. immigration policy. Seven in ten conservative and moderate Democrats say increasing border security should be a very or somewhat important goal, compared with 44% of liberal Democrats. Conservative and moderate Democrats are also twice as likely as liberal Democrats (50% vs. 25%) to say increasing deportations should be an important goal.
Liberal Democrats are the most supportive of creating a way for most undocumented immigrants to stay in the country legally: 85% say this should be an important goal, including 44% who say it should be very important. Three-quarters of conservative and moderate Democrats see this as an important goal, including 32% who see it as very important. Among Republicans, half of moderates and liberals say a path to legal status should be an important goal, while only about three in ten conservatives (28%) say the same.
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Key points include:
- Protection of Dreamers: Reinstating and expanding protections for Dreamers and parents of American citizens.
- Protecting asylum: Protecting and expanding the asylum system, including for victims of gang and domestic violence, as well as LGBTQ+ individuals.
- Stop the wealth test: Halting the enforcement of the Trump administration's immigrant wealth test.
- Pathways to citizenship: Providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, particularly those essential to the pandemic response.
- Support family-based immigration: Reversing policies that slash family-based immigration and visa programs like H-1B.
- Prioritize family reunification: Prioritizing family reunification and reforming the system to speed up visas.
- Expand visa opportunities: for victims of human trafficking and those with Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced Departure.
- Promote workers' rights: Promoting workers' rights and holding employers accountable for abuses against immigrant workers.
- Make immigration courts more independent: Making immigration courts more independent and ensuring that immigration enforcement personnel are professional and accountable.
- Increase opportunities for legal immigration: Increasing opportunities for legal, permanent immigration and improving the green card process.
- Help immigrants become citizens: Supporting programs that help immigrants become full and equal citizens, including funding for immigrant inclusion services, legal support, English classes, and workforce development.
- Address the root causes of migration: Addressing the root causes of migration, such as violence, poverty, corruption, and climate change, through comprehensive strategies and international partnerships.
These policies are designed to strengthen communities, the economy, and ensure that the United States remains a welcoming country for immigrants.
Asylum
During his successful White House bid, Mr Biden campaigned against Mr Trump's restrictive asylum policies, particularly the "transit ban" that forbade migrants from applying for asylum unless they first applied before they reached the US border.
Faced with mounting criticism, however, the Biden administration and Democratic allies have suggested asylum provisions similar to Mr Trump's.
A stalled bipartisan border bill, for example, would have tightened asylum restrictions and created daily limits on border crossings. Once that cap was reached, asylum seekers would have been turned away.
Parole
Joe Biden has made more use of immigration “parole” than any American president to bypass an uncooperative Congress, but he’s hardly the first.
The presidential power has been a centerpiece of Biden’s strategy to channel immigrants through new and expanded legal pathways and discourage illegal crossings, a radical difference from his rival Donald Trump.
Biden granted at least 1 million temporary visits, which generally include eligibility to work. Trump has said during his campaign to return to the White House that he would end the “outrageous abuse of parole.”
Deportations
When President Biden took office, there was a change of tone and of policy from Mr Trump's administration when it came to deportation, leading to a sharp decline in the number of people being removed from the US.
Additionally, the Biden administration swiftly moved to end the arrest and deportation of migrants in the US interior, a sharp departure from the Trump administration's practices.
Border Walls
Joe Biden vowed to not build "another foot of wall" when he took office. That did not work out as expected and there has been some new border wall construction in Texas. Mr Biden said he "had no choice" because funding for the construction was signed off on while Mr Trump was president.
"I tried to get them to redirect that money. They didn't, they wouldn't," Mr Biden said. "I can't stop that."
Family Separations
Soon after taking office, Mr Biden moved to end the separations, which he said were reflective of "the moral and national shame" of Mr Trump's administration.
The Biden administration announced a settlement last October in which family members separated under the previous administration will be given temporary legal and other benefits.
The settlement also bans family separations from taking place in the future.
In his speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin, he struck a similarly foreboding tone, describing the 2024 election as the nation's "final battle."
While speaking of Laken Riley - a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia allegedly murdered by a Venezuelan immigrant in the country illegally - Trump said some immigrants were sub-human.
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These policies have hurt all of us. President Trump has done everything in his power to subject more than one million DACA recipients and TPS holders to deportation, including hundreds of thousands of essential frontline workers helping our communities survive the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He has separated children from their mothers and fathers, both at the border and across the country, inflicting far-reaching trauma to children and families and harming communities. He has blocked millions of individuals from coming to the U.S. through existing immigration channels, undercutting our nation’s ability to respond to and recover from the ongoing public health and economic crisis. Throughout, the Trump Administration has relentlessly scapegoated immigrants for the challenges our country faces.
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Former president Donald Trump said immigrants coming to the U.S. are “poisoning the blood of our country,” a remark on Saturday that quickly drew a rebuke from his chief Democratic rival as President Joe Biden’s campaign likened the words to those of Adolf Hitler.
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Donald Trump issued an executive order temporarily banning immigration from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan. This came two days after signing an executive order for the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border.
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The whole Republican Party's policies on immigration are centered around reducing the number of immigrants allowed into or living in the United States. Republicans place particular importance on border security and deportations of immigrants who are in the country illegally.
About nine in ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (91%) call increasing security along the U.S.-Mexico border an important goal, including 72% who say it should be a very important goal, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
About eight in ten Republicans (79%) say increasing deportations of immigrants currently in the country illegally is important, with nearly half (49%) calling it very important. By comparison, 39% of Democrats view increasing deportations as very or somewhat important, including just 12% who see it as very important.
Conservative Republicans are the most likely to express strong support for more restrictive immigration goals such as increased border security and increased deportations, even when compared with others in their party. Liberal Democrats, by contrast, are the least supportive of these restrictive goals while being the most supportive of establishing a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants in the country.
Around eight in ten conservative Republicans (82%) say increased border security should be a very important goal for U.S. immigration policy; about half of moderates and liberals in the GOP (54%) say the same.
The Republican policies on immigration, as stated in their 2016 platform, include the following key focuses on ways of limiting the population and workforce to only American workers.:
- Protection of American Workers: The GOP aims to ensure that the immigration system benefits American workers and the economy.
- Rule of Law: Republicans emphasize the importance of upholding and enforcing immigration laws.
- Border Security: The party calls for the construction of a wall along the southern border and the protection of all ports of entry to prevent illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and human smuggling.
- Workplace Enforcement: Support for workplace verification systems, such as E-Verify, to ensure that jobs are available to legal workers.
- Opposition to Amnesty: Republicans oppose any form of amnesty for those who have broken immigration laws.
- State Legislation: The GOP supports the right of states to enact laws to deter illegal immigration and to reinforce federal law.
- Refugee Vetting: They propose that refugees who cannot be thoroughly vetted—especially from regions associated with terrorism—should not be admitted.
- Reforming the Treaty System: An intention to restore the treaty system specified by the Constitution, with special scrutiny for individuals from terror-sponsoring countries.
- National Security: The GOP stresses the application of special scrutiny to foreign nationals seeking to enter the U.S. from regions associated with Islamic terrorism.
These points reflect the Republican commitment to accomplish their goal of limiting the workforce to only American workers. Generally, immigrants don't limit Americans in the job market. Many times the jobs immigrants perform are jobs that are unwanted by people who can get better-paying jobs. There is plenty of work for everyone. The number of available jobs is currently 8.8 million according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Asylum
Donald Trump has always been against Asylum. In June 2018, the Department of Justice implemented a policy to deny that lack of protection from gender-based violence or gang violence was a lawful basis for claiming asylum, overturning a 2016 Board of Immigration Appeals precedent. In his opinion, Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote, "Generally, claims by aliens about domestic violence or gang violence perpetrated by nongovernmental actors will not qualify for asylum."
Parole
Donald Trump does not want to grant parole to Migrants who don't have a visa, or can't qualify for one. He does not want Migrants for any reason and has vowed to deport millions of people.
Deportations
Mr Trump, for his part, has vowed to carry out the "largest deportation operation" in US history to remove undocumented migrants already in the country if he returns to the White House.
Border Walls
Building a border wall was a signature policy of Donald Trump as president and was fiercely opposed by Democrats, including Mr Biden. Donald Trump has continued to tout the construction of border walls at campaign rallies across the US.
Family Separations
Thousands of migrant children were separated from their families as part of the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" approach at the border. Mr Trump has hinted that he would take the approach again if re-elected. In November, for example, he told Spanish-language news channel Univision that it had served as a deterrent and "stopped people from coming by the hundreds of thousands."
