The 2024 Landscape: America is navigating a post-pandemic influx of people at the border, fueled by growing international unrest. There are valid concerns about curbing the opioid/fentanyl crisis, and a perceived rise in crime by "illegals." We need to balance safety, ethics, funding, and human and physical resources to avoid compounding issues.
Immigration and border safety are sure to be among the top issues defining 2024 elections up and down the ballot. Unfortunately, they're also the most misunderstood.
Fabrications, fear mongering and social media disinformation make it all the more critical that voters sort fact from fiction when it comes to choosing candidates who will drive meaningful action.
It's also important to understand the complexity of immigration and border policies, which shows just how unrealistic it is to shout "close the borders and deport them all" across Facebook while expecting any problems to be solved.
Immigration is a bipartisan issue that requires proper funding. As the below data shows, it's certainly not one the GOP has nailed on its own.
President Biden has outlined a bipartisan National Security Agreement and needs GOP U.S. Representatives to see it through the finish line. Learn about the solutions here (The White House.)
Despite the 2024 State of the Union rebuttal speech and SNL skit seen 'round the world, Joe Biden's border policies are firm and awaiting funding to be even firmer to counter the increase of migrants. The federal government should should not spend taxpayer dollars on useless anti‐immigrant theater. (Cato) The time to act is now.
Voting Informed in 2024
Here's a look at what's been in place and proposed through 2024 campaigns.
The "Open Borders" Lie vs. The Reality
Conservatives are suggesting that anyone can get into the U.S. without much hassle. But the reality is that the southern border is more fortified than it has ever been. (Axios)
Since 1992, the U.S. has quadrupled the number of Border Patrol agents — from less than 5,000 to nearly 20,000 today. The Border Patrol regularly breaks border arrest records, highlighting the difficulty of entering the country illegally.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott denounced Biden for having open border policies, though he didn't define what that was. In fact, the Biden Administration is now deporting migrants to Mexico even if they aren't from Mexico. "If the administration was pursuing any kind of open border policy, the number of people being arrested would be dropping. And that's not the case. They're arresting and expelling as many people as ever."
Perceptions of Trump-Era Policies vs. The Reality
President Biden is asking Congress for $13.6 billion to fund border enforcement operations, a significant portion of which will go to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain more immigrants. This strategy is reminiscent of President Trump’s administration, which also poured resources into ICE detention in 2018 and 2019, but that effort produced very little change in the number of ICE removals—the stated goal for both Trump and Biden. (Cato)
Trump's detention surge failed to significantly increase removals. (Cato) It did separate children from their parents and over 1,000 children were never re-connected with their families.
Trump's 2020 Title 42 loophole to turn away migrants was used as a "public health measure," which means he needed to lean into the pandemic to use Title 42 and it would eventually expire under any administration. (BBC). He also focused on Muslim countries.
When the US ended its coronavirus public health emergency on May 11, Title 42 expired with it. To replace it, US immigration authorities unveiled a "carrot and stick" approach that encourages legal pathways, while also implementing strict penalties for those who cross illegally. (BBC)
They have opened regional processing centers in Latin America aimed at helping migrants apply to come to the US and expanded access to CBP One, an app migrants can use to schedule asylum appointments. People who cross illegally will be deported, barred from re-entering the US for at least five years, and be "presumed ineligible for asylum", according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Under Title 42, there were no such consequences. (BBC)
When overwhelmed at the Border, Trump also introduced a "catch and release" policy which he previously criticized.
Read more on how Trump vs. Biden policies compare.
Perceptions of Crime Incidents by "Illegals" vs. The Reality
Many Americans say or perceive that crime is on the rise, yet FBI data from 2023 shows a major reduction in crime across every category except auto theft. (Christian Science Monitor) (CNN) (Council on Criminal Justice)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection maintains data on incidents by type.
In 2023, .00145% of the country's 20,000 homicides and murders were attributed to criminal noncitizens. (CPB)
Efforts to Combat Fentanyl
Biden's Bipartisan National Security Agreement calls for:
Funds for the installation of 100 cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect fentanyl at our Southwest Border ports of entry. (White House)
1,200 new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel for functions including enforcement and deportations.
More resources to fund transportation needs to enable increased removals.
Declaration of international trafficking of fentanyl as national emergency and gives the President authority to impose sanctions on any foreign person knowingly involved in significant trafficking of fentanyl by a transnational criminal organization.
Transfer of sanctioned persons’ forfeited property to forfeiture funds and authorizes Treasury to impose additional restrictions against sanctioned persons upon a determination that their transactions are of primary money laundering concern.
Just recently, the President led the way on achieving a bipartisan agreement for the toughest, fairest border reform legislation in decades. The President and his team reached a historic bipartisan agreement with Senate Democrats and Republicans on border policy reforms and funding in February 2024 that would provide a fairer and more efficient process for asylum claims. The agreement also provides for emergency authority for the President to shut down the border when the system is overwhelmed, additional immigrant visas for families and workers, expedited work permits for those already here, and significant funding for more immigration judges, asylum officers, and Border Patrol agents and officers to secure the border and combat illicit fentanyl. Congressional Republicans should stop stonewalling this historic deal and work to send the legislation to the President’s desk. (White House)
How You Can Help
Support local and national candidates who are working productively across the aisle to reform immigration, secure American borders and create the funding to implement solutions. U.S. Representative Hillary Scholten (D) has traveled to the border to with an eight-person congressional delegation to discuss viable solutions. (Michigan Advance)
Call and write to Congressional Republicans across the country to demand they pass the National Security Agreement.
Combat misinformation and disinformation by highlighting the current bi-partisan National Security Agreement that is on lawmakers' desks. We do not need to wait until the 2024 election. (Hint - the wall is not impenetrable and America needs REAL solutions.)
Get involved with the Kent County Democratic Party and the Forest Hills Dems Club to support campaigns and legislation at the national, state and local level.
Donate to the Forest Hills Dems Club PAC to help us reach more voters and support candidates. (Donate here)
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