Trump introduces immigration plan following Biden’s executive order

By Haley Clough 

Former President Donald J. Trump shared immigration plans for his possible reelection at a convention on Friday. The event, hosted in Michigan, was for Turning Point Action, a “grassroots nonprofit organization,” known for its right-wing ideologies. The organization’s mission statement says it is “dedicated to educating students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government”. 

Among other policy discussions, Trump was particularly focused on immigration. The former president,  vowed to begin “the largest deportation operation in American history,” if elected. He told his audience that “we have no choice,” when it comes to creating stricter immigration laws. 

This commentary comes in the wake of President Joe Biden’s executive order, which adds strict limitations to any asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border. “Migrants will be restricted from receiving asylum at our southern border unless they seek it after entering through an established lawful process,” Biden said. The new policy caps those allowed into the United States at 2,500 a day. 

According to statistics from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, upwards of 1.5 million immigrants await entry into the country at the US-Mexico border. Fiscal year 2024 saw a record number 300,000 asylum seekers at the border in December. 

President Biden’s new executive order has caused rifts within his own Democratic party. Many agree with his rhetoric that “to protect America as a land that welcomes immigrants, we must first secure the border and secure it now,” as he said at the announcement of the order on June 4. Others feel his approach is too harsh, comparing it to the now defunct Trump-era Title 42, which allowed border patrol agents to forcibly expel or turn away migrants at the border, under the justification of Covid-19 restrictions. 

Biden’s historically progressive stance on immigration has been under scrutiny in the wake of this executive order. In the first months of Biden’s presidency, he reversed Trump-era legislation that reunited families and prevented immigrants from being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. The Biden administration has also utilized the parole strategy, where immigrants are able to stay in the US without a visa, which has sparked lawsuits from Republican states. 

Both the current and former president bring new immigration policies to their platforms as the two are set to debate on June 27 in Atlanta.