Foreign Policy Priorities
Immigration and Border Security
This project was made possible in part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Immigration has been a flash point of the U.S. political debate for decades. Efforts at comprehensive immigration reform have repeatedly foundered in Congress, in part due to disagreement over whether to create a path to citizenship for the more than eleven million undocumented residents in the United States, many of whom are from Mexico and Central America.

The response to the situation at the southern U.S. border has become increasingly divisive over the past five years as a growing number of migrants attempt to cross into the United States. In fiscal year 2023, U.S. border authorities encountered close to 2.5 million people, a record-breaking amount. Many were fleeing violence, poverty, and environmental challenges in their home countries, including those from Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Venezuela, and the so-called Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

The surge in migration has strained local and federal resources and renewed the debate over U.S. immigration policy. It has also prompted Republican-led border states such as Florida and Texas to take matters into their own hands, including by transporting thousands of migrants to northern, Democrat-run cities. Many Republican policymakers accuse the Biden-Harris administration of failing to secure the border and safeguard U.S. national security, while other lawmakers argue that the influx of migrants demonstrates the need for comprehensive immigration reform.

Immigration has become many voters’ central concern ahead of the election. In early 2024, polling showed that 28 percent of Americans surveyed—most of whom identified as Republican—considered immigration to be the top problem facing the United States. This marked the first time the issue has risen to the top since a previous migration surge in 2019.

Compare Candidates on Immigration and Border Security
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris advocates for comprehensive immigration reform. She was tasked with heading the federal effort to address root causes of migration from Central America, though her comments dissuading would-be migrants from traveling to the United States have created controversy.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Immigration and border policy remain signature issues for Trump, and the party’s 2024 platform renews his vows to implement a slew of measures to sharply reduce both legal and illegal immigration. This includes building upon actions taken during his first term to drastically reshape asylum, border, and deportation policy.

More on Immigration and Border Security

United States

Record numbers of migrants seeking to cross the southern U.S. border are challenging the Joe Biden administration’s attempts to restore asylum protections. Here’s how the asylum process works.

Climate Change

Amy Pope discusses her work as director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the UN role in addressing climate mobility, legal frameworks for migration, and the present humanitarian crisis.The Silberstein Family Annual Lecture on Refugee and Migration Policy was established in 2019 through a generous gift from Alan M. Silberstein and the Silberstein family. The lecture provides CFR with an annual forum to explore emerging challenges in refugee and migration policy in the United States and around the world. 

United States

Comprehensive immigration reform has eluded Congress for decades. Presidents have increasingly turned to executive action to reshape asylum and border policy.