Immigration is one of the most contentious political topics of the 2024 presidential race.
A sharp rise in the number of migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border since President Joe Biden took office has been a leading focus of Republican candidate and former president Donald Trump. In April 2020, the U.S. Border Patrol recorded 16,000 encounters at the US-Mexico border, in December 2023, that number was nearly 250,000, according to a report by Pew Research.
But with legislation at both the federal and state level aimed at regulating immigration, and even local candidates making pledges to “secure the border,” it can be confusing which candidates have the most say in immigration policy.
At the most basic level, immigration enforcement is primarily the responsibility of the federal government.
The U.S. Senate and House send legislation to the president to sign into law or veto. The president also has the power to issue executive orders that direct federal agencies how to work within the parameters of federal laws.
States have a limited role in immigration enforcement, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has pushed the boundaries of state authority in recent years. In 2021, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, sending state Department of Public Safety troopers and National Guard soldiers to the border to erect razor wire and other barriers and arrest and charge migrants with breaking state laws such as trespassing.
“In the face of paralysis at the Congressional level to adapt to the crisis, states are taking advantage of that lack of movement to direct immigration law and policy,” Cori Alonso-Yoder, a lawyer and immigration legislation expert at George Washington University, said in an email.
The Texas Legislature has backed Abbott by allocating $11 billion to the effort since 2021. Texas lawmakers also have tried to expand state authority over immigration, passing a law in 2023 that would expand the power of local law enforcement to arrest migrants and would give state judges power to deport them. The federal government has challenged that law in court.
Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have previously said they hope to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2011, the Supreme Court largely struck down several portions of a law passed by Arizona that also gave the state authority to arrest undocumented migrants.
In the 13 years since that case, the Supreme Court’s majority has shifted with President Donald Trump’s appointment of three conservative justices. The court now has six justices appointed by Republican presidents and three justices appointed by Democrats.
Conservatives have wanted to get a new case in front of the Supreme Court with the hope the new conservative majority would strike down the previous ruling in the Arizona case.
“It seems that states are ready to test the precedents set by the Supreme Court about federal supremacy in the realm of immigration law,” Alonso-Yoder said.
Who are the key elected officials who impact this policy?
Whoever occupies the White House plays a prominent role in setting immigration policy, but the president’s recommendations generally still need approval from Congress. That said, because Congress has not passed a comprehensive immigration reform law in almost four decades, recent presidents have made significant policy decisions over immigration through executive orders.
Some examples:
Soon after taking office in January 2021, Biden undid several of Trump’s immigration policies, including halting further construction of a border wall and pausing a ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries.
The Department of Homeland Security also issued a 100-day pause on deportations for some immigrants apprehended at the southern border.
Last June, Biden took a tougher stand on border security, issuing an executive order blocking individuals from seeking asylum when the seven-day average of daily encounters at the border surpasses 2,500. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, said recently she would likely continue the asylum crackdown if elected in November.
At a campaign rally in Atlanta in July, Harris said she would push for Congress to pass a bipartisan border bill that would overhaul the asylum process and increase detention beds at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. The bill has been stuck in Congress.
The state Legislature, federal courts, federal appeals courts and the Supreme Court also play a role.
The most significant action the Texas Legislature can take on immigration is voting to fund efforts such as Operation Lone Star. So far the Texas House and Senate have approved at least $11 billion to fund the effort to put DPS troopers and National Guard soldiers at the border. The Legislature also voted in its last session to pass Senate Bill 4, a bill that would give local law enforcement broad authority to arrest people they suspect of being in the country illegally. That law is on hold pending a court challenge.
At the federal court level, whenever there is a federal lawsuit related to immigration, judges in district courts and on federal appeals courts determine if a law has been broken or violates the U.S. Constitution. Presidents and Congress play a role here, too, because a president nominates a person to the federal judiciary and the Senate either confirms or rejects the nomination.
What decisions have been made recently that have had an impact on this issue?
Nationally, there has not been comprehensive immigration reform since President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986.
The law made it illegal for employers to knowingly hire undocumented migrants for work and it also offered legal status to migrants who could prove they had been in the U.S. since Jan. 1, 1982.
Since then, however, attempts to pass massive immigration reform bills have failed in Congress.
In 2012, President Barack Obama used an executive order to create DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, to offer protection from deportation for people who were brought into the United States as children and did not have legal residency or citizenship. The program’s legality has been challenged in court by several Republican-led states, including Texas.
In 2023, a federal judge in Texas found DACA to be unconstitutional, ruling that Obama exceeded his authority in creating the program. An appeals court is reviewing that ruling.
Trump used his executive powers to ban migrants from several Muslim-majority countries, reappropriate funds to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and enact the Migrant Protection Protocols that which forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration courts. The program, known as “Remain in Mexico,” was ended under Biden.
At the state level, Texas lawmakers have passed – or attempted to pass – various bills that touch on immigration. In 2017, Abbott signed Senate Bill 4, which banned sanctuary cities – generally characterized as cities that limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration officials. The law required local police to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and allowed law officers to ask about the immigration status of any person they detain.
Abbott began Operation Lone Star in 2021 and sent DPS troopers and National Guard soldiers to the border to begin arresting migrants who crossed illegally into Texas. Abbott used a disaster declaration – which gives him broad authority to suspend state laws and regulations and use resources – to shift resources to border-area counties.
Last year, the Texas Legislature passed a sweeping bill that authorized state and local police to arrest undocumented migrants and gave state judges the power to deport migrants who crossed the border illegally.
The law is on hold and under review by the courts, but Mexican officials have said the country would not accept migrants deported by Texas.
What issues are likely to be at the center of this election?
Congress: Races for Congress bear watching because a shift in majority – Republicans control the House by four seats and Democrats have a two-seat majority in the Senate – could affect the course of immigration law.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of senators negotiated a bill that would have overhauled the asylum process. Instead of Justice Department immigration judges hearing asylum claims, asylum officers with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services – a Department of Homeland Security agency – would hear the cases. Under the bill, asylum would have been denied to those with a criminal record, migrants living safely in a third country and those who could safely return to their native country.
The bill also would have increased the number of detention beds at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities to 50,000 from just under 40,000. If the seven-day average for illegal crossings between ports of entry increased to more than 5,000, the federal government would have to remove them from the country without hearing their asylum claims.
A majority of Democrats in Congress supported the bill, but Republicans overwhelmingly rejected the effort.
U.S. Senate: The divide has been evident in the race between U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas.
Cruz was among the first Republican senators to oppose the bipartisan border security bill earlier this year, arguing that it “effectively normalizes” up to 5,000 illegal crossings – the cap that would trigger restrictions on asylum.
Instead, Cruz last year introduced the Secure the Border Act, the GOP’s comprehensive immigration plan. The bill passed the Republican-controlled House but has stalled in the Democratic-run Senate.
Cruz’s bill would resume construction of the Trump-era wall along the southern border, increase the number of Border Patrol agents and limit asylum claims to migrants who present themselves at legal ports of entry. The proposal also would require employers to use E-Verify, which checks employees’ immigration status.
Allred has criticized the Biden administration’s border policies. In January, he was among 14 House Democrats who voted for a resolution denouncing the “Biden administration’s open-border policies.”
Allred opposed the House version of the GOP border security bill last year. He supports – and has pushed – for Congress to pass the bipartisan border security bill.
What races should I be paying attention to?
The issue of immigration is expansive, and decisions can be made at multiple levels of government that can impact policy. Deciding which policies are most important will help voters know where to put their attention when researching candidates.
Presidential election: The president sets policy and, recently, presidents have assumed broad executive authority to set immigration policies that have wide-reaching impacts. Additionally, whoever wins the presidential races will likely appoint one or more Supreme Court justices who could ultimately have a say in important immigration issues.
Congress: The U.S. Congress will likely decide key immigration issues over the next two years.
Senate race: Democrats want to maintain control of the U.S. Senate and currently have a 51-49 majority. Republicans, on the other hand, want to flip the Senate. Republican Ted Cruz is running for a third term in office. He is opposed by Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas.
U.S. House: Republicans currently hold a 217-213 majority in the House and hope to increase their grip in the House.
Both parties would like to have majority control in Congress as it would make it easier to pass legislation. With one party controlling the House and the other controlling the Senate, legislation can stall if a bill is a priority for Republicans but not Democrats – and vice versa.
There are nine U.S. House candidate races in North Texas that could impact which party controls the U.S. House – and by how large a majority:
Congressional District 3: Sandeep Srivastava, D, vs. Rep. Keith Self, R
Congressional District 4: Simon Cardel, D, vs. Rep. Pat Fallon, R
Congressional District 5: Ruth “Truth” Torres, D, vs. Rep. Lance Gooden, R
Congressional District 6: John Love III, D, vs. Rep. Jake Ellzey, R
Congressional District 12: Trey Hunt, D, vs. Craig Goldman, R
Congressional District 24: Sam Eppler, D, vs. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R
Congressional District 26: Ernest Lineberger, D, vs. Brandon Gill, R
Congressional District 30: Julie Johnson, D, vs. Darrell Day, R
Congressional District 33: Rep. Marc Veasey, D, vs. Patrick David Gillespie, R