2024 Election Campaign Numbers Preview

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – Border security is a key issue in the 2024 election cycle. How Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump approach the issue could be a deciding factor for many voters.

The border has been in the spotlight in Washington this year after the country saw record numbers of illegal border crossings under the Biden administration.

The Senate tried to pass border security reform in May, but the bipartisan bill died after Trump ordered Republicans to reject it.

Even though the number of river crossings has dropped dramatically in recent months, it remains a major talking point for both Harris and Trump this election year.

“We will seal the border, stop the invasion and begin the largest deportation operation in American history,” former President Trump said during a visit to the Arizona border last month.

Vice President Harris addressed border security in her speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.

“I know how important security is, especially on our border,” she said.

Trump’s border plans, outlined on his website, include ending catch-and-release, restoring the “remain in Mexico” option and eliminating asylum fraud.

The Trump campaign website also said, “In states where cooperation is needed, President Trump will deploy the National Guard and local law enforcement to help quickly remove illegal immigrants from gangs and criminals.”

The Harris-Walz campaign has promoted restoring the Senate’s failed bipartisan deal on border security, which they say Trump killed.

The campaign said in an email that the duo is running to fix the country’s broken immigration system, and highlighted her previous role as a border state attorney. The campaign said she went after transnational gangs that smuggled weapons and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border during her tenure as prosecutor. The campaign also said that as vice president, she supported “some of the most difficult reforms at our border in decades.”

Mark Morgan, former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection in the Trump administration, believes that regardless of who takes over as president, border security should not be viewed as a red or blue issue.

“We need to start by trying to stamp out ideological and political perceptions of the border. Yes, and the lies and false narratives,” Morgan said.

Morgan, who has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, said there needs to be more honest discussions about what is happening at the border and explanations of why stopping the flow of illegal immigration is important. Morgan also said there should be more deterrents to stop illegal immigration.

“We should be deterring people from entering illegally, rather than managing them once they get to our border. That’s a very important element. A deterrent. And for those who continue to ignore those deterrents, there have to be timely and swift consequences for those who continue to break the law,” he said.

Immigrant advocacy groups like Global Refuge agree to reform Border security policy is crucial, but immigration policy is equally important.

“This is an opportunity for political leaders to put aside the politics of election season and recognize that American voters want to lose, they want us to figure out how to create an orderly system where we know who is coming across our southern border while recognizing that we are a nation of immigrants,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, CEO of Global Refuge.

Vignarajah said border security reform should be balanced with continuing to accept people who immigrate for family and economic reasons.

“Our position at Global Refuge is that we want safe, secure communities. As a mother, that’s what I want for my children. But we also have to ask, at what cost?” Vignarajah said. “Does border security mean that we have to separate migrant children from their parents? Does it mean that we have to round up, detain and deport ten million people? Does it mean that we have to build and maintain, and prohibitively expensive and ineffective, a traditional border wall?”

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