The Path to the White House Starts at the US Border

Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, went for a run on February 22 at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia (USA). She never returned to her room. She was found dead on the same day in a forest on campus. The next day, Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan who illegally crossed the border in September 2022 was arrested and charged with her murder. At that point, Riley’s murder became a political weapon.

“Border invasion is destroying our country and killing our citizens!” former President Donald Trump posted on social media platform Truth Social, referring to Ibarra as a “monster”. Despite studies denying any correlation between immigration and crime, Trump reused this rhetoric, which had paved the way for him to enter the White House in 2016. The border became a battleground during the presidential election in November. The fact that both the incumbent president Biden and former President Trump decided to visit the Rio Grande River on February 29 is evidence of this.

Immigration: A Key Issue in the US Election

Several issues are on the agenda for the November 5 election. The economy, abortion rights, national security, the age of the candidates, risks to democracy, criminal charges against former President Trump, and even foreign policy, which rarely impacts voters, could all affect the outcome. However, American voters still consider immigration a major issue, according to a recent Gallup poll. Approximately 28% of respondents (including 57% of Republican Party members) believe it is the most important issue that the US is currently facing. This is seen as a reaction to the surge in illegal border crossings during President Biden’s term, reaching a record high of 250,000 people in December.

Funeral of college student Laken Riley on March 1, 2024. Photo: Atlanta Journal

The Economic Impact of Immigration

The US labor market has absorbed (and needs) blue-collar workers from abroad. Immigration partly explains the strength of the US economy and its resilience in the face of interest rate hikes. However, the influx of immigrants has also overwhelmed social services in many cities. Even Democratic strongholds like New York, Chicago, and Denver have sounded the alarm.

The Democratic Party recognizes that this issue could affect President Biden’s chances of re-election. For this reason, the president has decided to take action, as seen during his visit to Brownsville, Texas, on February 29. Wearing a black cowboy hat and no tie, he walked along the Rio Grande River with Border Patrol agents, which is considered the natural border between the US and Mexico. He also met with customs officers, border agents, asylum officers, and immigration judges.

Approximately 500 km away, former President Trump observed from behind the barbed wire fence on the riverbank in Eagle Pass, which has become the focal point of the political battle over immigration control between the federal government and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who accompanied Trump.

Both Trump and Biden arrived at the same conclusion. The US immigration system has been broken and the situation is unsustainable. “It’s really simple. It’s time to act. It’s been too long without action,” Biden explained the core of the issue.

Undocumented border crossers claim asylum when they are apprehended. “The process of making a determination on asylum claims can take 5 to 7 years. Now, all of you here know that, but the American people don’t understand that. That’s too long,” Biden continued, “This encourages more people to come to the US.”

The Democratic and Republican parties have agreed on a bipartisan Border Security bill that would provide more resources for immigration services, and according to Biden, this would allow cases to be processed within 6 months. Immigrants are willing to pay thousands of dollars to criminal gangs to enter the US because they know their cases may take years to be heard.

Striking a Compromise

If this process is expedited, “it will have a serious deterrent effect on those moving north [crossing into the US],” Biden argued during his visit to the Brownsville Border Patrol Sector Headquarters.

“6 months and 7 years… they’re different,” he said. “They won’t pay criminal gangs thousands of dollars to make that journey if they know they’ll quickly be turned back.”

The bill would also grant the president emergency powers to temporarily close the border when the number of people crossing exceeds a certain threshold and overwhelms the capacity of immigration services. However, as the bill was on its way to being passed, the Republican Party stepped back under pressure from Trump. As a result, the Democratic Party believes that the Republican Party does not want a solution, but rather an issue that benefits them in the elections.

“The bill is on its way to passage. Then it got derailed by partisan politics,” President Biden said in Brownsville, directly referring to Trump.

“I understand my predecessor is in Eagle Pass today. So this is what I’ll say to President Trump: Instead of playing politics with this issue, instead of asking members of Congress to stop this bill, join me—or I’ll join you—call on Congress to pass this bipartisan Border Security bill,” Biden said, calling for compromise.

However, reaching a consensus with former President Trump seems difficult. A few months ago, Trump stated that if he won the November election, he would become a “dictator in a day,” with immigration as his prime target.

In Eagle Pass on February 29, former President Trump referred to the murder of Laken Riley to blame the immigration issue on the Biden administration.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Cárdenas, CEO of America’s Voice, an organization that supports immigrants, said that “the way that the Republican Party, led by Donald Trump, is using this tragic event [Riley’s murder] for political gain is scary.”

“It’s strategic racism; a familiar strategy from a familiar playbook with the sole purpose of turning this tragedy into political fodder and spinning that immigrants and asylum seekers are dangerous threats when the facts prove otherwise. Study after study the truth is clear: immigrants have lower crime rates than the rest of the population,” Vanessa emphasized.

While the former President Trump is willing to push this divisive strategy to the limit to win over voters, he said in Eagle Pass, “They come from prisons, they come from mental institutions, they come from hospitals, and they are terrorists… Our country is being destroyed by the criminal invasion of Joe Biden. It’s a new and terrible violation of our country.”

“This is like a war,” Trump declared. Of course, it is a political battle in the important US elections this year.