EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Immigration has been at the forefront of the political debate with just four and a half weeks before Election Day.
For voters, it remains a key issue this election cycle. According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 6 in 10 people say immigration is “very important” to their vote.
During Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, JD Vance and Tim Walz sparred over immigration policy, at one point prompting the moderators to interject and mute the microphones.
While arguing that Haitian immigrants had overwhelmed the city of Springfield, Ohio, Vance erroneously said those individuals were in the country illegally and arrived using the CBP One app, which migrants use to schedule an appointment to request asylum at one of several designated ports of entry.
Biden administration extends temporary legal status to 300,000 Haitians, drawing a contrast to Trump
Many of the Haitian immigrants in Springfield are in the U.S. legally under Temporary Protected Status, which is granted to individuals from countries with ongoing armed conflict, such as civil war; an environmental disaster, such as earthquake or hurricane; or an epidemic.
Individuals whose country is designated for TPS can work in the U.S. and are protected from deportation.
The CBP One app, on the other hand, is a key part of President Joe Biden’s June 4 proclamation that restricts asylum and deems migrants who try to enter the country illegally ineligible.
The initial rule would cut off asylum when migrant encounters along the southern border exceeded an average of 2,500 a day during one seven-day period. The restrictions would lift when encounters fell below a daily average of 1,500 during one seven-day period.
This week, however, the Biden administration expanded the restrictions, requiring migrant encounters to average less than 1,500 a day for 28 days before they are lifted. So far, the asylum restrictions have been in place since they were enacted.
Another major change affecting immigration between the U.S. and Mexico is that both countries will have new leaders.
Earlier this week, Mexico inaugurated its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador hand-picked as his successor. Likewise, she has vowed to move forward with most of his policies, projects, and social programs.
The new president has also inherited that country’s problems, including historic debt and growing violence, in addition to irregular migration through Mexico.
In his final months as president, Lopez Obrador agreed to help curb the flow of migrants to the U.S. border by, among other things, removing them from northbound cargo trains.
Only time will tell whether Sheinbaum will be willing to continue to work with the United States to curb irregular migration. Plus, she, too, will have to deal with a new president of the United States.
America’s next president will also inherit an immigration crisis, and the top two candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, have very different plans to address it.
In this week’s episode of Border Report Live, host Chip Brewster and Border Report correspondents Sandra Sanchez and Julian Resendiz examine these recent changes to immigration and the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico.
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