OPINION:
The following analysis is part of The Washington Times’ Voter Guide, which outlines the candidates’ positions on the most important policy topics.
Millions of uninvited guests have shown up at the U.S. border since President Biden was sworn in. Surging unlawful immigration is straining local resources and contributing to increases in crime and fentanyl abuse.
This is perhaps the issue on which Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump disagree most. They don’t even see eye-to-eye on whether what’s happening is a problem.
When asked about the topic, Ms. Harris stands on her record as a lifetime public servant who “prosecuted transnational crime.” As Election Day nears, however, she has toughened her stance, promising on her website to deliver “smart solutions to secure the border, keep communities safe, and reform our broken immigration system.” Her past work has made her aware of the danger of leaving the border open.
As California attorney general 10 years ago, Ms. Harris issued a report acknowledging that “Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations are suspected of trafficking 70 percent of the U.S. supply of methamphetamine through the San Diego port of entry alone.”
Nonetheless, the Democratic nominee’s reform plan includes “an earned pathway to citizenship,” which her opponent argues is an incentive for even more people from around the world to show up on our doorstep, expecting eventual amnesty.
Mr. Trump says it’s unfair for these people to cut in front of those who went through the legitimate naturalization process. “You have a lot of people that came in, and they went through 10, 12 years of work, and I think they’re being very unfairly treated,” the former president said at a roundtable discussion with members of the Hispanic community this past Saturday in Las Vegas.
“They’ve worked so hard, and they’re so proud, and they love the country. … We want people to come into our country legally.” Mr. Trump proposes to deport illegal aliens who have committed serious crimes.
The Department of Homeland Security has reported that 647,572 noncitizens in the country are known criminals — a figure that includes 14,944 killers. It’s hardly a stretch to assume many of these bandits are responsible for recent surges in crime.
Currently, anyone from gang-plagued Haiti or Venezuela can press a button on the new CBP One app to claim asylum. The app’s users are then escorted into the United States after promising to attend a status hearing scheduled far in the future.
Under a separate program, the administration has also been secretly flying hundreds of thousands from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Myanmar and Iraq to various states at taxpayer expense.
These initiatives reduce the number of encounters reported at the southern border in DHS statistics, but they do not reduce the number of noncitizen arrivals or their impact on the communities where they are sent. Emergency rooms are swamped with illegal immigrants seeking medical care, and schools are increasingly crowded with an estimated 500,000 newly arrived children who don’t speak English.
Mr. Trump and running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, say the rise in demand for housing from illegal immigrants — often housed at taxpayer expense — is driving the cost of rent beyond what many Americans can afford.
On day one of the Biden-Harris administration, Mr. Trump’s border control policies were reversed. Mr. Trump says he would restore the policies that worked.
He’d reinstate his “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires anyone seeking asylum to stay out of the country until their application has been reviewed and approved. “He will also deliver a merit-based immigration system that protects American labor and promotes American values,” the GOP candidate’s website states.
In a recent “60 Minutes” interview, Ms. Harris was asked why she didn’t take steps to secure the border at the start of the administration. She passed the blame to the legislative branch for rejecting her legislation in 2021, explaining, “The first bill we proposed to Congress was to fix our broken immigration system.”
The House and Senate were under Democratic — not Republican — control in 2021. She then blamed her opponent for the congressional rejection of the border security effort earlier this year. “Donald Trump … told his buddies in Congress, ‘Kill the bill, don’t let it move forward,’” she asserted. It was Democrats in the Senate who were unable to muster a majority in the chamber they control.
Americans aren’t looking to assign blame; they’re looking for solutions to the cause of widespread hardship. It’s up to them to decide which of the candidates makes the more compelling case.
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