The 2024 election was heavily influenced by immigration and border security issues.

In 2024, immigration and border security were the main topics in news coverage and political debates, and both candidates aimed to show their ability to handle the ongoing border crisis. The consequences of the crisis were felt throughout the country.

In December 2023, the U.S. experienced a record number of encounters at the southern border with over 250,000 in a single month, amidst a migrant crisis that had been ongoing since 2021.

In 2024, as the presidential and congressional races heated up, the issue of migrants heading north became a dominant news story. Candidates Donald Trump and President Biden had different approaches to the problem, with Trump promising a mass deportation operation and Biden highlighting a decrease in encounters since the beginning of the year, while also signing an executive order limiting asylum entries in June.

Border deal on the table?

In February, a potential breakthrough was achieved when Republicans and Democrats presented a border security bill in the Senate. However, the package received opposition from both conservatives and some liberal Democrats, despite gaining the support of the Biden administration.

The bill proposed an emergency authority to shut down entries at the southern border when encounters exceed a rolling seven-day average of 5,000 encounters, while also expediting work permits for migrants and tightening asylum screening language. Additionally, it included increased funding for border agencies.

The bill, which would codify high-border encounters, was rejected by former President Donald Trump for political reasons, but the Biden administration and both the Biden and Harris campaigns cited it as a bipartisan solution to the crisis.

Migrant crime makes headlines

In 2024, high-profile crimes committed by illegal immigrants brought the issue to the attention of more voters.

In February, the murder of Laken Riley, a Georgia college student, would once again bring the issue of migrant crime to the forefront. Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who had been released into the U.S. in 2022, was charged with her murder.

In July, two men were arrested for capital murder after the death of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston. The men are accused of enticing her under a bridge, restraining her, and then killing her before discarding her body into a river.

Despite statistics indicating that immigrants commit fewer crimes than American citizens, the argument that illegal immigrants should not have been allowed into the country did little to quell the outrage over their involvement in fatal incidents.

Wish upon a czar

Vice President Harris was named the nominee after President Biden decided not to run for re-election. Immediately, attention was drawn to her record of leading the administration's efforts to address the "root causes" of migration, earning her the nickname "the border czar" by some in the media and Republicans.

She faced criticism over the Biden administration's handling of the border crisis, but also faced additional scrutiny due to her past radical views on immigration during her 2019 presidential campaign. Her support for gender transition surgery for detained migrants became a point of contention and was used against her by Republicans.

She would also abandon her previous statements advocating for the decriminalization of illegal border crossings and the closure of immigration detention centers. She had also considered restarting ICE from scratch.

The Biden-Harris administration's three-year effective governance has influenced her campaign adviser's positions, as stated by a Harris campaign adviser to Fox.

Parole out of place

During election season, the Biden administration's use of humanitarian parole to bring in thousands of migrants via the CBP One app, both at the southern border and by approving their travel into the U.S. from four countries, faced criticism due to reports about how Haitian migrants were affecting towns throughout the U.S.

During the presidential debate, Trump made a claim about Haitian migrants eating cats and dogs in Ohio, which became one of the most viral moments of the debate with Harris.

The claim that mass migration had no impact on towns in Ohio and elsewhere remained unproven until Election Day.

Trump holds his ground

The Trump-Harris Election Day line-up revealed that polls consistently showed Trump with a significant advantage over Harris in terms of suitability to handle the border crisis and illegal immigration, while voters also identified it as a top issue for them, often only second to the economy.

Trump repeatedly assigned the border crisis to Harris as "border czar," despite her repeated attempts to hammer him on his failure to support the bipartisan border security bill.

As Trump accepted victory in the November election, he reiterated his promise to voters.

He stated that we will repair our borders and everything related to our nation.