Agenda47: Why Trump's immigration-reform proposals come with legal, feasibility concerns
As both presidential candidates begin to focus on their policy agendas, immigration continues to be one of the biggest issues in the election.
Former President Donald Trump's platform has long focused on immigration; one of his earliest 2016 campaign messages was to build a wall along the southern border. The issue is taking center stage again in this election as Republicans have been increasingly raising alarm bells about "migrant invasions."
"What is happening at the border, is migration, and it is a pattern of migration that we have seen over the last decade, a rise of asylum seekers, on top of a pattern of migration we have seen for 50 years ... of people coming to the United States seeking a better life by sneaking across the border," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick a fellow at the American Immigration Council, a nonpartisan immigration advocacy nonprofit. "Neither of those is an invasion."
Throughout several administrations, immigration policy has stalled in Congress and policies have largely been set through executive action, which can change at the whim of election cycles.
President Joe Biden has already issued more executive actions on immigration than Trump had in his entire presidency, according to Kathleen Bush-Joseph, policy analyst with the nonpartisan think tank Migration Policy Institute. But Biden has moved significantly to the right over the last couple of years, blaming Republicans for failing to support a bipartisan immigration bill while saying he would be able to "shut down the border" if it had passed.
"That's helpful context for understanding how contentious some of this is, and also how vulnerable a lot of these policies are to litigation and to future administrations trying to roll back some of these policies," Bush-Joseph said.
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Vice President Kamala Harris a "failed border czar," though she has not been in charge of the border, and criticized Biden's handling of the children at the border.
"Trump will restore his effective immigration policies, implement brand new crackdowns that will send shockwaves to all the world’s criminal smugglers, and marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history," Leavitt said in statement shared with USA TODAY.
Here are some of Trump's proposed policies under Agenda 47 and the Republican platform.
Agenda47 on crime: Trump proposes death-penalty for drug dealers, requiring stop and frisk
'End automatic citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants'
"On Day One, President Trump will sign an Executive Order to stop federal agencies from granting automatic U.S. citizenship to the children of illegal aliens.... It will direct federal agencies to require that at least one parent be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident for their future children to become automatic U.S. citizens," Trump's Agenda 47 states.
How we got here: Under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, ratified coming out of the Civil War in 1868, anyone born in the U.S. is a U.S. citizen. Trump's agenda states this is a "major incentive for illegal immigration."
In today's context: Trump's platform says he wants to clarify the amendment, so it is understood "that U.S. Citizenship extends only to those both born in AND 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States." Reichlin-Melnick said it is well established that "subject to the jurisdiction" generally means anyone without diplomatic immunity, and stripping the citizenship right for those born here is a "crack pot fringe theory." Libertarian think tank Cato Institute also called it an "unorthodox view" not supported by the vast majority of constitutional lawyers.
'Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion'
Among his "20 Core Promises to Make America Great Again," part of the RNC platform, Trump also promised to "seal the border and stop the migrant invasion."
How we got here: "No president has managed to seal the border in US history, despite multiple attempts to do so. This is not a new concern in the United States," Reichlin-Melnick said. Currently there are barriers on 654 miles of the 1,933 mile-long border. Trump built-up barriers on several hundred miles. At the end of Trump administration, border apprehensions were on the rise monthly from April 2020, and reached a 23-year peak in December of 2022, Reichlin-Melnick said. Growing destabilization in several South American countries including Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba have contributed to the increased migration in the last few years.
In today's context: Biden has put into place policies that effectively lower the number of asylum seekers admitted to the country at the border. Diplomacy and regional cooperation are also a big part of Biden's strategy to mitigate migration at the border, including opening Safe Mobility Offices in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Ecuador, which try to reach migrants before they get to the border to and help them from taking dangerous paths; He has also tried worked with countries to take migrants back and quickly return people to Mexico at the border, Bush-Joseph said. The number of apprehensions have dropped back to summer of 2020 levels, according to Reichlin-Melnick. "That means that whoever takes over in January will likely inherit a border that is quieter than the border that Biden inherited," he said, cautioning that things can change quickly.
More: After record-breaking years, migrant crossings plunge at US-Mexico border
'Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history'
In the 20 core promises from the RNC, Trump states he will "carry out the largest deportation in American history."
How we got here: Bush-Joseph said the Biden administration is on track to deport as many people as the Trump administration, but Biden focused the deportations on recent arrivals at the border and those from the interior who posed threats to national security or public safety. She said that is different from the first Trump administration, during which deportations resulting from interior arrests were not targeted and created a "climate of fear."
In today's context: Between the court backlog and limited reach of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a mass deportation could require Congressional action for more funding or legal reforms, according to Reichlin-Melnick. Also, places like Venezuela will not allow the US to deport people back to their home countries. "So anyone arrested on day one of the Trump administration, there's a very good chance they wouldn't even get an answer on whether or not they could stay until after the (end of the) administration," he said.
'End birth tourism'
"The Executive Order will also stop 'Birth Tourism.' Through 'Birth Tourism,' tens of thousands of foreign nationals fraudulently enter the U.S. each year during the final weeks of their pregnancies for the sole purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for their child," Trump's Agenda47 states.
In 2020, Trump issued new visa guidelines to try to curb "birth tourism," without providing evidence it is a growing problem. This was not a policy change so much as guidance for officers to pay attention to as tourist visas are issued on business or pleasure, not for coming here to have kids, according to Reichlin-Melnick.
"The other crucial thing to understand about the visa process is that tourist visas are granted for 10-year periods," he said, explaining that someone could come to the country with no intention of having a child and their circumstances could change.
'Stop the migrant crime epidemic'
"Stop the migrant crime epidemic, demolish the foreign drug cartels, crush gang violence, and lock up violent offenders," states one of the Trump platform 20 promises.
How we got here: Research shows immigrants commit fewer crimes than people born in the U.S. Republicans frequently evoke violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants in campaigning, and a Pew Research Center study shows the majority of Americans believe more migrants coming into the country lead to more crime.
In today's context: Recent research shows violent crime in U.S. cities is falling back to pre-pandemic levels. In July, two alleged leaders of the Mexico Sinaloa Cartel were arrested and prosecutors argued they were largely to blame for the flow of fentanyl in the country.
The RNC platform on immigration also includes strict vetting, stopping "sanctuary cities" and enforcing immigration laws, a Trump campaign spokesperson said.
Contributing: Brad Sylvester, Terry Collins, Doug Stanglin, Deirdre Shesgreen, Joey Garrison, Lauren Villagran
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's immigration policy agenda: End natural-born citizenship