This year, the presidential elections will take place. At the moment, it seems that the same electoral landscape from 2020 is repeating itself. On one side, Joe Biden leads the list of Democrats, while Donald Trump leads the Republicans. Will history repeat itself? What will be the future of immigration reform?
Unfulfilled promises
Despite being one of his central campaign promises in 2020, Biden failed to push through a comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform when he assumed the presidency, with the aggravation that in the first year of his administration, he had a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
In 2024, things don't look very promising. The topic of immigration reform has ceased to be mentioned in presidential speeches, and it doesn't even appear on Biden's official campaign page.
Due to the evident influx of immigrants at the border, most of the Biden administration's efforts in immigration have been focused on border control.
Without immigration reform, without major technological innovations in processing procedures, and with a limited budget, immigration officers are overwhelmed with work. Currently, we have a record three million pending immigration cases.
Very serious threats
On the other side of the political spectrum, the outlook is terrifying. Former President Donald Trump intensified his anti-immigrant diatribes, repeating without qualms creeds embraced by white supremacist groups. Last year, he claimed that immigrants coming to the United States are “poisoning the blood of our country,” a comment that echoes the discourse of other totalitarian figures throughout history.
Trump stated that he would have no compassion for immigrants, announced mass deportations, the tightening of policies, and obstacles to the legalization of undocumented individuals.
Fortunately, not everyone shares the former president's white supremacist ideas. Around two-thirds of Americans (66%) believe that immigrants strengthen the country “due to their hard work and talents,” according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.
Is a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform possible?
Reforming the immigration system will not be an easy task, but it is necessary and urgent. Study after study has shown that comprehensive immigration reform will bring significant economic benefits to the country. Additionally, it will bring us back to the spirit of immigration law, which is family unification.
The last major immigration law was passed in 1986 when Ronald Reagan was president, and both houses of Congress were controlled by Democrats. In 1990, a smaller bill was passed when George H.W. Bush was president, and both houses of Congress were still controlled by Democrats.
The tradition of bipartisan agreements changed during the presidency of George W. Bush, when the push for bipartisan immigration reform was abandoned due to a conservative revolt against the so-called "amnesty" for undocumented individuals.
Decades of inaction have made our immigration system obsolete, restrictive, and inefficient. The net immigration rate to the United States, legal and illegal, is in the bottom third of the 50 countries with the highest per capita GDP in the world, and the proportion of foreign-born residents is also in the bottom third. This happens at a time when population growth is at its lowest levels since the Great Depression.
At the end of the day, it is the voters who have the final say. It is our vote that can persuade politicians to push for comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform or consign it to oblivion.