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Immigration and border security were two issues that dominated news coverage and political debate in 2024, and likely helped decide the presidential election, as both candidates tried to present themselves as the best to deal with a historic border crisis and the aftermath of the crisis was felt throughout the country.
In January, the United States found itself in the midst of a migration crisis that had erupted in 2021 and continued to roil the country throughout 2022 and 2023. In December 2023, encounters at the southern border reached a new record with more than 250,000 encounters in a single one. month
It was a month when top cabinet officials headed to Mexico to try to persuade Mexican officials to do more to stem the flood of migrants heading north. As the presidential race, as well as congressional races, entered full swing in the first months of 2024, it became clear that the issue was likely to dominate the news cycle. Then-candidate Donald Trump vowed to launch a mass deportation operation if elected, while President Biden announced a sharp drop in encounters since the start of the year as he also signed an executive order limiting entry of asylum in June.
HOW THE Border Czar Label Was Pursued In Harris, BIRDS IMMIGRATION VIEWS DURING THE FAILED CAMPAIGN
Donald Trump speaks at the US-Mexico border on August 22, 2024, south of Sierra Vista, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
Border deal on the table?
A potential breakthrough emerged in February when Republicans and Democrats announced a border security bill in the Senate The package won the support of the Biden administration, but quickly attracted opposition from conservatives and some liberal Democrats.
The bill included increased funding for border agencies, as well as emergency authority to close entry at the southern border when encounters exceed a seven-day average of 5,000 encounters. It would also speed up work permits for migrants and strengthen asylum screening language.
Conservatives said the bill would codify border encounters, but the Biden administration and the Biden and Harris campaigns would cite the bill as a bipartisan solution to the crisis that former President Donald Trump was rejecting with political purposes.
Migrant crimes make headlines
Tragically, in 2024 there was a series of them high profile crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants, bringing the issue to the radar of even more voters.
In February, the death of Laken Riley, a college student from Georgia, would bring the issue of immigration crime back into the headlines. Jose Ibarra, an illegal Venezuelan immigrant who had been released to the US in 2022, was charged with her murder.
In July, two illegal immigrants They were arrested for capital murder in the death of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston. The men are accused of luring her under a bridge, tying her up and killing her before dumping her body in a river.
While immigration activists would point to statistics suggesting that immigrants commit fewer crimes than American citizens, these talking points appeared to do little to quell outrage over the deaths of people at the hands of illegal immigrants which conservatives argued should never have been allowed into the country in the first place.
wish for a tsar
When President Biden announced that he would not seek re-election, Vice President Harris became the nominee. Immediately, attention was drawn to her track record at the head of the administration in addressing the “root causes” of migration, a task that led her to be dubbed by some media and Republicans as “the czar of the border”.
Vice President Harris visits the US-Mexico border with Tucson Border Patrol Sector Chief John Modlin, right, in Douglas, Arizona, on September 27, 2024. (REBECCA NOBLE/AFP via Getty Images)
He therefore became the target of questions about the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis, but faced additional pressure over his past hardline positions on immigration that he maintained during his presidential campaign. of 2019. Your support to gender transition surgery for detained migrants made headlines and was used as a weapon against her by Republicans.
He would also depart from past statements calling for the decriminalization of illegal border crossings and the closing of immigration detention centers. He had also thought that ICE was starting “from scratch” again.
A Harris campaign adviser he told Fox during the campaign that his positions have been “shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration.”
Probation out of place
The Biden administration’s use of humanitarian parole to bring thousands of migrants through the CBP One application, both at the southern border and by approving their travel to the US from four countries, exploded during the election season amid reports of how Haitian migrants were affecting cities. across the US
Trump repeated claims about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs in Ohio during the presidential debate, marking one of the most viral moments of the debate with Harris.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS
Although this claim was unfounded, the impact of mass migration on cities in Ohio and elsewhere remained an issue until Election Day.
Trump stands
With the Trump-Harris Election Day lineup set, polls Trump consistently showed with a huge gap over Harris on suitability to handle the border crisis and illegal immigration, while voters also cited it as a top issue for them, often second only to the economy.
Harris repeatedly chastised Trump for his failure to support the bipartisan border security bill, but the rift never closed between the two as Trump continued to assign the border crisis to his leadership as “czar of the border”.
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Trump would eventually win the November election, and when he accepted the victory, he reiterated his promise to voters.
“We’re going to fix our borders. We’re going to fix everything about our country,” he said.
