Immigration policy could set sparks flying in Thursday’s debate between Donald Trump, who accuses migrants of “poisoning the blood” of the United States, and Joe Biden, who will do everything possible to distance himself from his Republican rival.
Both will be very aware that, according to surveys, a good part of the electorate is concerned about security on the border with Mexico and the influx of migrants.
These are the main proposals of both candidates for the November presidential elections.
– Donald Trump –
Migration is the central axis of the electoral program of the Republican magnate, whose anti-immigrant rhetoric is increasing as the election date approaches.
During his term, from 2017 to January 2021, he applied a “zero tolerance” policy, which treated migrants who tried to enter illegally into US territory as criminals, thereby losing custody of their children. He also began to build a wall on the border with Mexico (where there were already fences before).
Trump is now still a proponent of a heavy-handed approach, vowing to take “as draconian measures as necessary,” such as “closing the border” with Mexico, resuming construction of the wall and deporting “massively.”
“It will be the largest deportation in the history of our country,” he repeats over and over again.
In his rallies, Trump affirms that migrants “poison the blood of the country”, which earned him comparisons with Adolf Hitler, and “they come from prisons and jails”, “from mental institutions and asylums”.
He also accuses them of being criminals, on the basis that some migrants (among millions) are suspected of having committed crimes.
“They are killing our country,” they are “criminals,” he tells his followers even though FBI crime statistics show that violent crime nationwide decreased 1.7% in 2022 and murders decreased 6.1% in comparison with 2021.
In recent days he has surprised by proposing permanent residence permits to foreigners who graduate from American universities.
If he returns to the White House, the 78-year-old Republican threatens to impose tariffs on countries that do not stop the flow of migrants trying to reach the United States.
– Joe Biden –
Republicans blame Biden’s policies for favoring the right to asylum for migrants, many of them Latin Americans.
Biden, for his part, accuses Trump of having sabotaged a bipartisan attempt to find a solution.
“I will not demonize immigrants,” “I will not separate families,” says the 81-year-old Democrat, who assures that he does not “politick” the immigration issue.
He came to the White House with the promise of promoting a “more humane” immigration policy and a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, but he ran into opposition from conservatives in Congress and his proposal was never voted on.
Now he finds himself between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand satisfying the most left wing of the Democratic Party and on the other hand stopping the entry of migrants.
He thus strives to try to convince the electorate that he is proactive against migrants who cross the border without a visa and without using the “legal channels” promoted by his government, such as making an appointment through a mobile phone application, completing the procedures in the countries through which they pass or take advantage of humanitarian permits.
In recent weeks, he signed a decree that restricts the entry of migrants through the border with Mexico when there are more than 2,500 irregular crossings in an average of seven days and toughened the standards for requesting asylum.
In addition, his administration promoted a rule that accelerates the denial of asylum to migrants who represent a danger to “national or public security.”
In his one-lime-and-sand policy, the president granted immigration protection to almost half a million Venezuelans and will simplify the process so that migrants married to Americans can obtain a residence permit, the famous green card, without having to leave. of the country to request it.
He also stated that he will accelerate the granting of visas to graduates of American higher education centers, as long as “they have received a highly qualified job offer.”
This measure will benefit the “dreamers”, that is, migrants who came to the United States as children and are protected by a federal program (DACA), which allows them to live and work legally in the country.
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THE NATION
