In addition to the economy, health care and democracy, voters have consistently said they are concerned about border security and the impact of illegal immigration on their lives.

2024 ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS ON THE TRUMP-HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris approached the concerns very differently.

Trump, who won in 2016 on promises to build a border wall with Mexico, has focused on ending illegal immigration, including crimes committed by non-U.S. citizens and the financial impact on cities and states from the millions of immigrants released into the country. and American works. Meanwhile, Harris said she would prioritize congressional legislation to bolster border security and work to stop transnational criminal organizations.

“While this may be a signature issue for Trump, it is a purely defensive issue for Harris,” Matt Wolking, vice president of communications for Republican political consultancy Axiom Strategies, wrote in an email.

Immigration peaks

A. New York Times/Siena College questionnaire The report, released on October 25, found that with just one week left until the election, immigration identified abortion as the second most important issue for US voters. Economics alone beat out immigration and abortion.

That in itself shows how much Americans feel personally affected by immigration and border policies, according to former federal immigration judge Andrew R. Arthur; But deeper into the survey is another example of why some are so concerned about border security. , currently works for a nonpartisan immigration organization that advocates for stricter immigration protocols.

“A large majority of voters see ‘immigrants/immigrants’ as a threat to American democracy,” Arthur wrote in a blog post Friday. “This is an unfortunate but probably inevitable consequence of almost four years of bad border policy.”

Concern comes after 10 million immigrants In just three and a half years, federal immigration officials encountered this situation at the nation’s border; That’s longer than any other two-term president. Among those encountered were several hundred people on the FBI’s terrorism watch list.

Trump edged Harris (54% to 43%) on who was better on immigration, giving Harris more reason to talk about immigration and try to improve her credibility with voters and another reason for Trump to keep the issue alive .

More than three in five men surveyed said Trump would do a better job than Harris, as did nearly three-fifths of white voters and respondents with a bachelor’s degree.

“If – and that’s a really big if because Times“The /Siena poll is one of the best — more and more male voters are so concerned about immigration and so convinced that Trump is the only one who can address it that they’re turning out to vote, which could tip the tight race in favor of the GOP candidate,” he said. Arthur.

“That’s probably why I see so many Trump or conservative PAC ads focusing on the border while watching football in my (current) home swing state. North Carolinahe added.

Trump goes on the attack

Trump took a break from seven battleground states on Thursday to visit the southern border state of New Mexico, a blue state that hasn’t gone to a GOP presidential nominee since former President George W. Bush in 2004.

“They all said, ‘Don’t come.’ ‘From where?’ I said. ‘You can’t win New Mexico.’ I said, ‘Look, your votes were rigged.’ ‘We can win New Mexico.’ … From where? Don’t they want to stop murderous people from crossing the border? They are murderers. They are drug addicts. They are drug dealers. They are gang members,” Trump said.

The impact of more than 5 million illegal immigrants released into the United States across the southern border has been felt in sanctuary cities 1,000 miles north of the southern border. The Democratic mayors of New York City, Chicago and Washington have pleaded with the Biden-Harris administration for federal aid in 2022.

“A big reason why this issue is resonating widely is because the Biden-Harris Administration has resettled tens of millions of illegal people in every corner of the country,” Wolking said in an email. “It’s not just southwestern border states that are grappling with the negative consequences of illegal immigration: school chaos, high housing costs, low wages for working-class Americans, rising violent crime, and shortcomings in social safety net programs.”

Last week, Trump repeated his claims about “immigrant crime,” the term he uses to talk about crimes committed by illegal immigrants against U.S. citizens. Trump met privately Family of Marine veteran Nicholas Douglas QuetsHe was killed while driving on vacation in Mexico in late October. The suspect who killed Quets is believed to have ties to Mexican cartels.

In Henderson, Nevada, on Thursday evening, Trump brought the Arizona family onstage and asked them to speak to rallygoers about their experiences.

“Some of Trump’s most powerful moments on the campaign trail were when he met Americans who had been victimized by vigilantes or who had lost loved ones due to crimes committed by people who were never supposed to be in the country to begin with,” Wolking said. “When Democrats deny this, they appear callous and indifferent to Americans. Trump, who is driving the issue, seems sympathetic and interested.”

Harris tries to look forward, not back

Harris announced: border crisis – Ended reference to the highest number of illegal immigrants ever apprehended at the southern border in the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration.

President Joe Biden appointed Harris as “border czar” in early 2021 to address the reasons why people from Central American countries are migrating to the United States

Harris has argued throughout her campaign and over the past few days that the White House has been able to better control the border and that it shows she has the ability to be commander in chief.

Therefore, the center of their message about immigration was not the problems caused by illegal immigration, but strengthening border security.

Harris also looked back on her time in office: Vice Presidentbut only to point to an incident last winter, when Trump told Republicans not to support a bipartisan Senate border package that would impose a host of new border policies and add more federal police to the border.

Harris attacked Trump for delaying the first bipartisan agreement on immigration in more than 20 years and said she would rather campaign than solve the problem.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

When asked about her border and immigration plan, Harris is quick to point out that immigrants are of great value to the country, but she has repeatedly refused to explain what she would do about it, even if she continues Biden-era initiatives.

“Initially, Harris appeared to be trying to outdo Trump by proactively talking about the failed Senate bill, but her campaign saw that it wasn’t effective with voters and backed off,” Wolking said. “As we’ve seen in his interviews on 60 Minutes and Fox News, it’s now just a fig leaf he’s using to avoid answering questions about the border crisis.”